Teen suspended after helping classmate having asthma attack

A 15-year-old Texas boy was suspended from school after he assisted his classmate who was having an asthma attack.

According to KCEN, the boy's classmate told everyone she was having an asthma attack, but her teacher refused to let anyone leave the room. Instead, the teacher emailed the school nurse and waited for a reply, telling students to stay calm and remain in their seats, the Washington Post reported. 

When the girl fell out of her chair several minutes later, the boy, Anthony Ruelas, said he couldn't take it anymore and took matters into his own hands. 

“We ain’t got time to wait for no email from the nurse,” a teacher’s report quotes him as saying. Ruelas picked up the girl and carried his classmate to the nurse's office, violating his teacher's orders.

Later that day, the classmate texted Ruelas to let him know that she was fine. Ruelas was written up by his teacher and suspended for two days by officials at Gateway Middle School, an alternative school in the Killeen Independent School District.

“I was like, what?” Ruelas told KCEN. “I’m suspended for this? Like, I was trying to help her.”

Ruelas said he would "most definitely" make the same decision again if he was given the chance. John Craft, superintendent of the Killeen Independent School District, said in a statement that he could not discuss the suspension.

Contact Caitlin Lilly at clilly@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @caitiesmith