Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MARCH 2016 23 S omeone recently asked why we do stories about zero tolerance policies in schools that don’t have a law enforcement-specific angle. And while it’s true that there are officers in schools who have to deal with these policies, cops are also par- ents and need to be aware of just how crazy the situation can get. These things appear to be the very definition of “selective and/or arbitrary” discipline. Here’s the most recent outrage. According to The Wash- ington Post, a hero kid that helped a classmate that was having trouble breathing has been suspended. Anthony Ruelas watched in horror as his classmate wheezed and gagged trying to breathe. The girl told classmates that she was having an asth- ma attack. The teacher – and he or she sounds like a real peach – refused to let anyone leave the classroom, according to NBC affiliate KCEN. Instead, the teacher emailed the school nurse. Then the teacher waited for a reply. Meanwhile the kid struggling to breathe was in trouble. “We got no time to wait for an email from the nurse,” Anthony said, according to a teacher’s report on the incident. So he picked up his class- mate and headed straight for the nurse’s office. Ruelas was written up by his teacher and eventually suspended for two days, ac- cording to KCEN. “I was like what?” Ruelas said. “I’m suspended for this? I was trying to help her.” But here’s the thing – Ru- elas has been in the system. Mandy Cortes, Ruelas’s mother, said that she just as- sumed her son was to blame when she was informed that he had been suspended. It’s not his first suspension. “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.” Yeah! Getting screwed by administrators for doing the right thing will tend to have that effect. John Craft, superintendent of the Killeen Independent School District, said in a statement that he could not discuss the suspension. Thankfully, Mr. Ruelas hasn’t learned his lesson. When reporters asked if he would make the same deci- sion again if he were given the chance, he didn’t hesitate – unlike the teacher when it came to helping a student that couldn’t breathe. “Most definitely,” he said. Increasingly, no good deed is going unpunished No apple for you lady.... M&P® SHIELDTM . WHERE PROTECTION MEETS PERFORMANCE. COMFORTABLE TO CARRY. COMFORTABLE TO SHOOT. THE M&P SHIELD IS SLIM, CONCEALABLE AND POWERFUL. AVAILABLE IN 9 MM AND .40 S&W. THAT’S CONFIDENCE. SMITH-WESSON.COM/MPPISTOLS M&P® SHIELDTM 9 - 7&8 ROUND MAGS M&P® SHIELDTM 40 - 6&7 ROUND MAGS