Andra Ferguson and her boyfriend, Brandon Kivi, both 15, use the same type
of asthma medicine, Albuterol Inhalation Aerosol.
Ferguson said she forgot to bring her medication to their school, Caney
Creek High School, on Sept. 24. When she had trouble breathing, she went to
the nurse's office.
Out of concern, Kivi let her use his inhaler.
"I was trying to save her life. I didn't want her to die on me right there
because the nurse's office (doesn't) have breathing machines," Kivi said.
"It made a big difference. It did save my life. It was a Good Samaritan
act," Ferguson said.
But the school nurse said it was a violation of the district's no-tolerance
drug policy, and reported Kivi to the campus police.
The next day, he was arrested and accused of delivering a dangerous drug.
Kivi was also suspended from school for three days. He could face expulsion
and sent to juvenile detention on juvenile drug charges.
The mothers of both teenagers are angry.
"My son will not go to jail. This is ridiculous," said Theresa Hock, Kivi's
mother. "I believe he shouldn't be punished at all because he was helping her.
She was in distress."
"If he hadn't helped her, she would have passed out or died or something
because her asthma's been really bad this year," said Sandra Ferguson, Andra's
mother.
The school principal said he couldn't do anything about it since Kivi not
only broke school rules, but also allegedly violated state law.
"It's simply a matter that it's classified as a dangerous drug. It's an
inhaler form, but yet, if it had been in pill form or any other, it's still
classified as a dangerous drug," said Greg Poole, the Caney Creek principal.
"Would Caney Creek had want Andra to have died rather than my son to help
her?" Hock said.
Poole said the nurse never considered Andra to be in a life-threatening
situation.
The school district will hold a hearing on the matter Friday.
