KILLEEN -- A Killeen mother is defending her son who was suspended after helping a fellow student having an asthma attack. 
 
 Anthony Ruelas, 15, said his eighth grade classmate was wheezing and gagging for three minutes Tuesday morning while no one did anything. But when Ruelas did do something, he apparently broke the rules. 
 
 “He may not follow instructions all the time, but he does have a great heart,” said Mandy Cortes, Ruelas’ mother. 
 
 Ruelas goes to Gateway Middle School, an alternative school in the Killeen Independent School District. Ruelas has been suspended before, but Tuesday was different. 
 
 "I wasn't trying to hear it,” said Cortez. When she picked her son up from school for the suspension she told him,”No, they already told me what happened you walked out of class, and he was like 'ok forget it', but I can tell, ya know you know your kids, I could tell he was upset." 
 
 The reason Ruelas walked out of class? He was carrying a friend to the nurse’s office. 
 
 "I was like what? I'm suspended for this? Like, I was trying to help her,” said Ruelas. 
 
 According to Ruelas, the teacher was waiting on an email from the nurse and told the class to remain calm and stay in their seats. Fearing for the girl’s health, Ruelas didn’t listen and after several minutes of inaction, went against the teacher’s wishes to help his friend. 
 
 Ruelas’ referral form from his teacher reads in her handwriting: 
 
 “During 5th period another student complained that she couldn't breathe and was having an asthma attack. As I waited for a response from the nurse the student fell out of her chair to the floor. Anthony proceeded to go over and pick her up, saying ‘f—k that we ain’t got time to wait for no email from the nurse.’ He walks out of class and carries the other student to the nurse.” 
 
 "I broke rules but, she need help, like she needed help,” said Ruelas. 
 
 “I don't, ya know think, he should have used that language, but as far as getting suspended for walking out of class, he could have saved her life,” said Cortes. 
 
 Killeen ISD released this statement Wednesday in response to the incident: 
 
 
 
 "The District is unable to provide details related to the matter as it pertains to information involving student discipline and/or health records. In an effort to 
 
 protect students' rights to confidentiality granted under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the details of the investigation and/or disciplinary actions may not be provided by the district at this time. The Killeen ISD maintains the safety of our students, staff and campuses as a priority and applauds the efforts of students who act in good faith to assist others in times of need." 
 
 -John Craft, Superintendent, Killeen Independent School District 
 
 However, Cortes said instead of “applause” her son got punished for doing the right thing. 
 
 "Especially with it being an alternative school I feel like the kids hear enough of ‘they're bad’ or their behavior, or you know, and for them to not be rewarded for really something that is brave, ya know, he is a hero to me,” said Cortes. 
 
 Ruelas said he wasn’t concerned about the two-day suspension, only the girl’s health, and even with the outcome would help her again if given the chance. 
 
 “Most definitely,” said Ruelas. 
 
 Adding insult to injury, Cortes said the school called her Wednesday morning wanting to know why her son was absent. She had to remind them they suspended him. 
 
 As for the classmate Ruelas helped, he said he got a text from her Wednesday evening thanking him and letting him know she was ‘ok.’ 
 
 Ruelas can return to school Thursday, but Cortes is now considering home-schooling him. 

 A 15-year-old middle school student in Texas was suspended after leaving class to find help for a classmate who appeared to be having an asthma attack . (www.kcentv.com) 
 
 Anthony Ruelas watched for what seemed like an eternity as his classmate wheezed and gagged in a desperate struggle to breathe. 
 
 The girl told classmates that she was having an asthma attack, but her teacher refused to let anyone leave the classroom, according to NBC affiliate KCEN. Instead, the teacher emailed the school nurse and waited for a reply, telling students to stay calm and remain in their seats. 
 
 When the girl fell out of her chair several minutes later, Ruelas decided he couldn’t take it anymore and took action. 
 
 “We ain’t got time to wait for no email from the nurse,” a teacher’s report quotes him as saying, according to Fox News Latino. 
 
 [Oregon eighth-grader suspended from school for wearing patriotic shirt showing gun] 
 
 And with that, the 15-year-old Gateway Middle School student carried his stricken classmate to the nurse’s office, violating his teacher’s orders. 
 
 The teenager later texted Ruelas to let him know she was fine, according to KWTX, but that didn’t stop officials at the alternative school in the Killeen Independent School District from punishing him: Ruelas was written up by his teacher and eventually suspended for two days, according to KCEN. 
 
 “I was like what?” Ruelas told the station. “I’m suspended for this? Like, I was trying to help her.” 
 
 A teacher’s report documenting the incident appears to correspond with Ruelas’s version of what transpired: 
 
 “During 5th period another student complained that she couldn’t breathe and was having an asthma attack,” the report states. “As I waited for a response from the nurse, the student fell out of her chair to the floor. Anthony proceeded to go over and pick her up, saying ‘f— that, we ain’t got time to wait for no email from the nurse.’ He walks out of class and carries the other student to the nurse.” 
 
 Mandy Cortes, Ruelas’s mother, told KCEN that she assumed her son — who has been disciplined by school officials in the past — was to blame when she was informed that he had been suspended again. 
 
 “I wasn’t trying to hear it,” she said. “I was like, ‘No, they already told me what happened — you walked out of class.’ And he was like ‘Okay, forget it.’ But I can tell — you know, you know your kids — I could tell he was upset.” 
 
 Cortes told KCEN that when she found out what prompted her son to walk out of class, she was proud of him but frustrated by the school’s response. 
 
 “Especially with it being an alternative school I feel like the kids hear enough of ‘they’re bad’ or their behavior,” she added. “For them to not be rewarded for really something that is brave, you know, he is a hero to me.” 
 
 “He may not follow instructions all the time, but he does have a great heart,” she said, noting that she was now considering home-schooling him. 
 
 [7th grader’s ‘Star Wars’ T-shirt banned because storm trooper was holding a weapon] 
 
 John Craft, superintendent of the Killeen Independent School District, said in a statement that he could not discuss the suspension. 
 
 “The District is unable to provide details related to the matter as it pertains to information involving student discipline and/or health records,” the statement said. “In an effort to protect students’ rights to confidentiality granted under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the details of the investigation and/or disciplinary actions may not be provided by the district at this time. The Killeen ISD maintains the safety of our students, staff and campuses as a priority and applauds the efforts of students who act in good faith to assist others in times of need.” 
 
 Ruelas told KCEN that he’s more concerned about his classmate’s health than his suspension. Asked whether he would make the same decision again if he was given the chance, he sounded confident. 
 
 “Most definitely,” he said. 
 
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– When an eighth-grader at Texas' Gateway Middle School started suffering an asthma attack Tuesday, 15-year-old Anthony Ruelas at first did exactly what his teacher told him to do: stay seated while the teacher waited for the school nurse to email back about what to do, the Washington Post reports. But when the girl kept "wheezing and gagging" for several minutes and finally fell out of her chair, Anthony decided he'd had enough, per KCEN. Per the teacher's report, Anthony said, "F--k that, we ain't got time to wait for no email from the nurse" and, against the teacher's directive, carried his classmate to the nurse's office (she texted him the next evening to say she was OK). But instead of a pat on the back, Anthony ended up with a two-day suspension from the alternative school in Killeen. "I was like what? I'm suspended for this? Like, I was trying to help her," he says, per KCEN. Anthony had been suspended before, and even his own mom rolled her eyes when Anthony tried to explain what happened. "I wasn't trying to hear it," Mandy Cortes tells the station. She dismissed her son, "and he was like, 'OK, forget it.'" But Cortes could tell he was upset, and once she got the whole story, she was upset, too. "I feel like the kids hear enough of 'they're bad'… and for them to not be rewarded for really something that is brave … he is a hero to me," she says, adding her son has a "great heart." The Killeen Independent School District's superintendent did say Wednesday that the district "applauds ... students who act in good faith to assist others in time of need," per KCEN. Would Anthony do it again? "Most definitely," he says. (A Florida teen got detention for hugging a classmate.)