Girl Thanks Spongebob Squarepants for Helping Her Save Choking Friend

Parents might want to consider letting their children watch a little extra TV -- one Long Island girl credits "Spongebob Squarepants" for teaching her how to do the Heimlich maneuver which helped save her friends life.

Miriam Starobin, 12, and her best friend seventh-grader Allyson Golden were in music class at Long Beach Middle School Tuesday when Golden began choking on her gum.

"I [couldn't] speak,"Golden told the NY Post. "So my arms are around my neck.  I'm turning purple and my legs are flailing," 

Starobin recalled an episode of "Spongebob" she thought she saw where the title character removed a clarinet that was lodged in his friend Squidward's throat. That's when she sprang into action to try to save her friend.  

Starobin pulled her friend off the ground and gave her the Heimlich three or four times until the gum came shooting out of her mouth. 

"I had no clue what I was doing until it was done," Starobin told the paper.

Sanford Mauskopf, the girls' music teacher, didn't see what happened but noticed a wad of white gum fly out of Allyson's mouth. After hearing the story, he called Starobin a hero. 

But, Starobin to the Post, "Anyone would do it."

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