FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks to supporters at the opening of her campaign field office in Ferguson, Mo. McCaskill remains on the campaign trail with a cracked rib after a fellow senator performed the Heimlich maneuver on her when she began choking. (AP Photo/Bill Boyce, File)

Colleague cracks Sen. McCaskill's rib with Heimlich maneuver

By Associated Press Washington, D.C.

PUBLISHED 1:51 PM ET May. 09, 2019

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin has cracked a rib of U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill while performing the Heimlich maneuver on the fellow Democrat when she began choking.

A spokesman for Manchin tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that McCaskill began choking during a luncheon for Senate Democrats on Thursday. Manchin, from West Virginia, used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the blockage in McCaskill's throat, but he cracked a rib in the process.

McCaskill says she's "really grateful to Joe." She adds that "a little bit of a sore rib for a couple of weeks is no big deal."

The Missouri senator said she would not be hugging people when she appeared at a dinner in St. Louis late last week.