Moreover, the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed is enjoying considerable activity, adorned with images of people posing with clocks, sometimes very large ones.Įven President Obama offered his tweeted observations: "Cool clock, Ahmed. On Twitter, former MythBusters co-host Grant Imahara came out in Ahmed's support, saying he too used to tinker as a teen. In Ahmed's case, blogger Anil Dash posted a picture, sent by the boy's family, of the arrest. She was arrested for felony possession and discharge of a dangerous weapon. This case does incite a small echo of an incident in Florida two years ago when a student experimented with exploding a toilet cleaner and foil inside a water bottle. Ahmed has been suspended and could still be charged with "making a hoax bomb." However, it did send a letter to parents (full text below), which read in part that Ahmed's device "did not pose a threat to your child's safety."Īn investigation is continuing, the school said. Samsung fights back against the iPad, wants you to feel betterĪs for the school, MacArthur High says it doesn't comment on parent/student matters.You can't take a selfie stick to see the pope.Woman gets dumped, discovers fiance left her for an online scammer.There's no evidence that he did leave it unattended. What broader explanation might have been expected? He's a nerdy teen and that's what nerdy teens do? The police insisted that if Ahmed had left the clock unattended, it could have been mistaken for a bomb. "The Irving Police Department has always experienced an outstanding relationship with the Muslim community," the statement said. However the Irving PD say that this 14-year-old was "handcuffed for his safety and for the safety of the officers." That statement might cause one or two people to pause and consider the concept of safety. They added: "Under Texas law, a person is guilty of possessing a hoax bomb if he possesses a device that is intended to cause anyone to be alarmed or a reaction of any type by law enforcement officers."ĭid the police have any evidence that Ahmed intended someone to be alarmed? It seems not. The police insist that the device did look suspicious (an image is below). What other details might the police have expected? The Irving Police Department offered me a statement that read, in part: "The student only would say it was a clock and was not forthcoming at that time about any other details." He said they made him feel like a criminal. He added: "Later that day I was taken to a juvenile detention center, where they searched me, they took a fingerprint and mugshots of me." #IStandWithAhmed- Grant Imahara September 16, 2015 When I was his age, I took everything apart too and tried to make things. "They took my tablet and my invention," Ahmed said.Ībsolutely tragic. The arrest cannot have been easy to bear. His father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, is politically active and has tried to run for president in his home country. He is of Sudanese origin and is a Muslim. He claims one of the police officers said: "Yup, that's who I thought it was." He believes this a reference to his name, skin color and religion. In certain sections of America there's a belief that a such a name and the Muslim religion automatically represent a threat.Īnd so it was that Ahmed Mohamed, age 14, was arrested.įive police officers were present as he was pulled out of class. "She was like, 'it looks like a bomb,'" Ahmed said.Īfter so many recent shooting incidents at schools, perhaps some teachers and administrators are overly, even if on occasion understandably, paranoid about anything that might be dangerous. The teacher asked him to show her what had made the noise. However, this invention had an alarm that went off in English class.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |