David Cormia Jr. holds a framed picture of him and his father David Cormia Sr., a 40-year-resident of Delray Beach that was found unresponsive near a steak dish he ordered sometime after 5 p.m. Aug. 1 at Empire Buffet, 5040 W. Atlantic Ave.

Cormia Sr., 62, has been in a coma at Delray Medical Center's Neuro-Intensive Care unit since Aug. 1. Cormia Jr., 27, said he had just heard from his father on the phone one hour before the incident happened. Cormia Sr. is a resident of High Point of Delray Beach.

"My father was healthy. In New York State he held the record for fastest pin in wrestling. I talked to him on the phone one hour earlier and he sounded healthy. I see him all the time; he is a healthy man," Cormia Jr. said.

Cormia Sr. recently owned his own business and ran a nonprofit in Delray Beach.

"We took nature walks together. He ran businesses in Delray Beach. I grew up in Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. He came here 40 years ago... came to Delray Beach because he loved this area after visiting with family members," Cormia Jr. said.

All he knows now is that his father is unresponsive in the hospital and may have choked on his steak, possibly falling into or near the entree he was eating for dinner. Cormia Sr. was eating alone.

"My dad asked me to join him but it just didn't work out because I had a prior engagement," Cormia Jr. said.

Cormia Jr. works as a personal trainer and has a second job fixing motorcycles. Just last week he completed CPR classes. After learning about something happening to their father, Cormia Jr., his mother Rosario and 20-year-old sister Erica, drove to the restaurant and asked the Empire Buffet management what happened to their father. What they said they learned hurt the family. The Cormia family said a manager at the restaurant told them in the parking lot that they didn't help out David Cormia Sr. because they thought the man was drunk.

"My father wasn't drunk. We want witnesses to come forward and tell us what happened. We know there were as many as 10 witnesses in the restaurant," Cormia Jr. said.

Empire Buffet manager Shirley Chen said she did the right thing and never said the man was drunk.

"When he fell I called 911 twice. A customer at another table called 911 the third time. None of our employees said he was drunk," Chen said.

Delray Beach Fire Rescue arrived on-scene at 5:37 p.m. They arrived at Delray Medical Center at 6 p.m. with Cormia Sr. on Aug. 1.

"He could have been unresponsive for a half an hour. He may have choked. We do know he lost a huge amount of oxygen,” Cormia Jr. said.

Witnesses can call the family's representative at
561-998-9300.