14yo Arrested Bringing Homemade Clock To School

14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed arrested for bringing homemade clock to school



Police in Texas have arrested a 14-year-old boy for building a clock. Ahmed Mohamed, who lives in Irving and has a keen interest in robotics and engineering, put the device together on Sunday night. When he took it to school the next day, he was pulled out of class, interviewed by police officers, and taken in handcuffs to juvenile detention, after being told by teachers that his creation looked like a bomb.

Ahmed told The Dallas Morning News that he showed his clock — a simple device, created from a circuit board and a power supply wired to a digital display, all strapped inside a case with a tiger hologram on the front — to his engineering teacher first, who advised him not to show any other staff members at MacArthur High School. He originally kept it in his bag during English class, but his teacher heard it beep during the lesson — when Ahmed showed her his home-made clock at the end of class, she took it away from him. In sixth period, the school principal came for Ahmed with a police officer in tow, arresting him and marching him out of school. The schoolboy says he was interrogated by five officers, who asked why he was trying to make a bomb, and was threatened with expulsion by his Principal unless he made a written statement.

Ahmed may still be charged with making a "hoax bomb"

Irving police might still charge Ahmed with making a "hoax bomb." Police spokesperson James McLellan said Ahmed "kept maintaining it was a clock" when he was brought in for interrogation, but that he offered "no broader explanation." When asked by The Dallas Morning News what broader explanation Ahmed could have given for a clock that was actually a clock, McLellan said the creation "could reasonably be mistaken as a device if left in a bathroom or under a car." A police report released on Tuesday cites three MacArthur High teachers as complainants against Ahmed for the "hoax bomb."

Ahmed's father says his son was mistreated because of prejudice against Muslims

Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, Ahmed's father, says his child suffered because of prejudice against Muslims. "Because his name is Mohamed and because of September 11th," Mohamed told The Dallas Morning News, "I think my son got mistreated." The Council on American-Islamic Relations is already investigating Ahmed's case, with Alia Salem, the director of the council's North Texas chapter, saying that it seemed "pretty egregious."

Ahmed said he was a member of his middle school's robotics club, and had tried to find a similar group in his high school. Now the 14-year-old — born in the same year that the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took place — says he'll no longer bring any of his inventions into school. A picture reportedly taken by Ahmed's sister shows him in handcuffs at the juvenile detention center, sporting a NASA T-shirt and an understandably confused expression. Ahmed was fingerprinted, before being allowed to return home, but is still serving a three-day suspension from school.



Many in the maker and tech community have already rallied around him. A hashtag — #IStandWithAhmed — rapidly rose to become one of Twitter's top trending topics, and support has come from a number of sources, including a JPL engineer who offered Ahmed the chance to see a Mars rover whenever he wants. Ahmed's father says his son "just wants to invent good things for mankind" — we can hope that the police reaction won't dissuade the talented young creator from making good on his dream.



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Do you know the name Ahmed Mohamed yet? You should. He’s probably going to cure cancer, or reverse the effects of global warming, or finally invent us some damned jet packs. (We are STILL waiting!) Also, he’s the 14-year-old in Irving, Texas, who is smarter than every single adult in his town, with the possible exception of his parents. He was turned in by his teacher and principal, interrogated by police, and then cuffed and arrested — for making a clock that looked, to their (RACIST) untrained (RACIST) eyes (RACIST), like a bomb, because of how he is a Muslim science nerd, and they are all (RACIST RACIST RACIST) idiots. He might save the world one day, if not falsely imprisoned for nerding while Muslim. At least this guy seems to think so:



Texas would be better off it had more people like Ahmed Mohamed, who like to do fun science things in their spare time, like make clocks. But then, this is the same state that elected Rick Dumb-As-Dirt Perry. He doesn’t even know how “broken” clocks work.

We hope Ahmed does go to the White House to show the president his kick-*** clock, so that this despicable tale of blatant racism plus jaw-dropping stupidity ultimately equals a heartwarming story about a bright first-generation American teen (or, as Republicans would call him, an “anchor baby”) being recognized and rewarded for his ingenuity. And we hope the president gives him a cookie, a medal of honor, a ticker tape parade, and a hat that says THIS IS WHAT MAKING AMERICA GREAT LOOKS LIKE. It could say SUCK ON THAT, DONALD TRUMP, on the back.

Oh, and do enjoy your outrage, wingnuts, that the president would dare invite a young Muslim scientist to the White House, when he has never bothered to invite any teens who failed biology because they believe the world is a few thousand years old and flat.

The best way to stop a bad guy with a clock is a hero with a clock.

Why didn't the teacher who knew what it was say anything?

Instead he 'advised him not to show any other staff members at MacArthur High School.' Sorry but that guy is the one to blame. What teacher would do something like, then not say anything when the student gets pulled out of school in handcuffs.

Quick search brought up this image of the device that's supposedly from the police press conference:


I can see it being mistaken for a bomb given that I have no idea what a bomb would actually look like.

Its common sense. For something to be an explosive, then it has to contain explosive materials! There is absolutely nothing inside that thing. Common sense should have solved this issue. That failing, the engineer teacher should have easily been able to tell. That also failing, our over so extensively trained police should have had a clue. And even if alllllll that failed.. a simple bomb tech could have told them. There is no reason to drag a kid out in handcuffs and interrogate them over a clock.

Hmm a bunch of shittily placed/managed wires and a screen, i cant imagine how it was confused with a bomb

real fk funny kid

I can understand the English teacher freaking out, and other people who have no idea what a bomb looks like. There was obviously some profiling going on, mainly due to paranoid America, but not completely unjustified. Nobody's going to cite or take into account statistics during a perceived bomb scare. But the main focus should be the teacher that fully knew that other people would be suspicious of it and even told him to not show anyone.

I saw this story early today. Obama is being his usual clueless, dumbass self. But nobody is questioning the decision made by the teacher who told him to hide it. I'm curious if he intentionally had him keep just to see what would happen and have a laugh, or maybe even make some kind of statement?

I hope the focus goes on him, as the student came to him first off and holds the responsibility. Definitely not this 14 year old who trusted the decision of the teacher to hide it. I'd hope he gets punished somehow, but not fired. Unfortunately decent engineering teachers are hard to come by.

America is where it is now, so trying to make this some kind of call to attention over profiling of Arab/Muslim people is not going to fly. That issue may take a good 30-50 years to address and that takes into account a lot of stuff that probably won't happen, not going into that since that's a totally different subject.

Quick search brought up this image of the device that's supposedly from the police press conference:


I can see it being mistaken for a bomb given that I have no idea what a bomb would actually look like.

dont forget tho that they had the engineer teacher and 5 police offers on scene. Then drug the kid out in handcuffs and interrogated him. - It should never have gone that far. It doesn't take a genius to open that up and see that its not a bomb. But they still took him out and interrogated him anyway.