--- title: Autistic Teen Learned Life-Saving Trick from SpongeBob description: He saved a choking classmate using tips from his favorite cartoon canonical: https://time.com/4103402/teen-who-saved-choking-classmate-says-spongebob-taught-him-heimlich-maneuver/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-06T21:17:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:26:42.651Z og:title: Teen Who Saved Classmate Says 'Spongebob' Taught Him Heimlich Maneuver og:description: He saved a choking classmate using tips from his favorite cartoon og:url: https://time.com/4103402/teen-who-saved-choking-classmate-says-spongebob-taught-him-heimlich-maneuver/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Teen Who Saved Classmate Says 'Spongebob' Taught Him Heimlich Maneuver twitter:description: He saved a choking classmate using tips from his favorite cartoon twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Teen Who Saved Choking Classmate Says 'Spongebob' Taught Him Heimlich Maneuver  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Nov 6, 2015 9:17 PM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Nov 6, 2015 9:17 PM UTC A 13-year old autistic teen who performed the Heimlich maneuver on a choking classmate says he learned the technique from [watching _SpongeBob SquarePants._ ](http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/11/autistic%5Fstudent%5Fsaves%5Fclassma.html#incart%5F2box%5Fsilive-homepage-featured) Brandon Williams said he knew to perform the Heimlich on his choking peer Jessica Pellegrino because he had seen it on his favorite TV show, a cartoon about a talking sponge who lives under the sea, according to _Staten Island Live_. “He picks up on things that most of us would miss, and files it all away in his head, and he can recall it all in an instant,” Williams’s dad Anthony told the paper. “That’s how he knew instantly what to do. And we’re glad he did. We’re proud of him.” When Jessica thanked Brandon for saving her after the incident, he got shy. “I just love her,” he said quietly, the newspaper reports. \[[Staten Island Live](http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/11/autistic%5Fstudent%5Fsaves%5Fclassma.html#incart%5F2box%5Fsilive-homepage-featured)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4103402/teen-who-saved-choking-classmate-says-spongebob-taught-him-heimlich-maneuver/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4103402/teen-who-saved-choking-classmate-says-spongebob-taught-him-heimlich-maneuver/"},"headline":"Teen Who Saved Choking Classmate Says 'Spongebob' Taught Him Heimlich Maneuver","datePublished":"2015-11-06T21:17:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:26:42.651Z","description":"He saved a choking classmate using tips from his favorite cartoon","url":"https://time.com/4103402/teen-who-saved-choking-classmate-says-spongebob-taught-him-heimlich-maneuver/","keywords":["Newsfeed","School","New York","teen","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4103402/teen-who-saved-choking-classmate-says-spongebob-taught-him-heimlich-maneuver/","name":"Teen Who Saved Choking Classmate Says 'Spongebob' Taught Him Heimlich Maneuver"}}]}] ```