14 year-old Muslim teen builds clock, shows teachers, and gets arrested for it.

Let's be real please wrote:

It's nice that The President has invited him to the White House, but let's be honest. If this kid walked up to the White House gates, without invitation, holding this clock asking if he could show it to The President, I think the Secret Service would have reacted in much the same way as the school did.

As a parent who received mandatory training on how to recognize package bombs while employed by the Federal Government, I would not have let him bring this clock to school. There was just too much potential for someone to think it was an explosive device.

I find it interesting that Obama invited this kid to WH but not parents of slain San Fran lady killed by an illegal.

PTO wrote:

How to go wrote:

You have an uncanny ability to not see the horrific treatment of Muslims in America.

Yep -and I also believe they send money home to fiance their causes against America.

Guilty.

Naw, southern state inbread-rednecks keep all their money at home to buy guns, and survival gear (cheetos, ding-dongs, soda, etc.) in preparation for their secret separation war against evil America. The South WILL RISE AGAIN!

Ur Full Of It wrote:

quote]Liberalism = a mental disorder wrote:

White kids get arrested all the time by school "zero tolerance" policies for the pettiest shit, and it doesn't make news. Please stop believing the narratives the media sells you.

Below are seven students, not named Mohamed, who got off scot-free for the heinous crime of DIY timekeeping, plus a bonus kid who brought an actual inert bomb to school and wasn’t suspended. (Mohamed got three days.)

Peter Mathis of Wilmington, North Carolina

Another student who likes clocks made a clock of his own. Peter Mattis of Gregory elementary wanted to make a clock more complex than a sundial, so he made his own liquid clock.

The clock drips green fluid into a container to mark the hour. And while Peter doesn’t use the clock to tell time at home because it tells time by hours instead of minutes, he can think of one situation where the clock would come in handy: a hurricane.

—Wilmington Morning Star, March 10, 1999

Haley Zinke and Tasha Williams of Turtle Lake, North Dakota

Haley Zinke and Tasha Williams researched whether or not water clocks kept accurate time. They built their own clock for the project and demonstration.

—McLean County Journal, May 22, 2014

Logan Weimer of Holland, Ohio

During the Holloway Elementary School science fair last week, kids crowded around Logan’s exhibit as he explained how he used veggie power to keep track of time.

“I tried to get an alarm clock to come on with no batteries,” Logan explained, pointing to copper wires and chunks of potato and lemons. Citric acid in the lemon kept the clock working for hours, but the potato “spuddered” out rather quickly.

However, he said he was really happy with his experiment because “if the power goes out, I will get to school on time.”

—Toledo Blade, March 22, 2007

Indy Brumbraugh and Cesar Limas of Dade City, Florida

Indy Brumbraugh and Cesar Limas also worked together on their “Clock-o-matic,” an alarm clock that squirts water on those not-so-early risers.

“I wake up late and my mom and dad wake up late, so I was thinking of an idea to wake them up early,” Cesar said.

—St. Petersburg Times, December 15, 1999

Tori Clark of Ellis, Kansas

“I didn’t know anything about building,” said senior Tori Clark, the only girl in the class of 14. “I built a clock in (Carroll’s) industrial tech class last year, and he’s a good teacher so I decided to try this.”

It was a good decision, Clark said.

“My dad said he wishes he would have had something like this when he was in school,” she said.

—Hays Daily News, December 5, 2010

Plus, here’s an anonymous kid in Kiowa, Colorado who brought an actual inert bomb and wasn’t suspended (his teacher was)

A high school student’s science project was meant to demonstrate how heat is involved in transferring energy. But because the project was an inert bomb, the student and his teacher are taking some heat of their own.

The bomb, made with fertilizer and diesel in a test tube, was displayed last week at a science fair with traditional experiments when an anonymous caller alerted the authorities. The bomb was made with the approval of the 17-year-old student’s teacher.

...

The student, whose name officials refused to release, remains in school and will not be disciplined by the school, because he had his teacher’s approval for the project.[/quote]

So 7 examples of which 2 are pre 9.11.01 and all 7 are science projects for school approved by teachers and of those 1 is a potato clock and 2 are water clocks.

Pick better cherries next time.

Also how did you ascertain that those kids were not Muslim and white? Cesar Limas and Tasha?

Tick tock.

Precious Roy wrote:

In any other place in the US, you could rack this up to pure stupidity. And there is a lot of stupidity to go around in American schools and police departments. But in Irving, Texas, there has been a very racist city government that has been doing everything they can to score points with right wing media outlets by stirring up idiotic phobias over Sharia law taking over. .

Are you telling me that if Irving was 70% Muslim there would not be a groundswell to implement Sharia Law? The only reason they are not trying to do that now is due to their small percentage of the population.

6 years ago a white kid brought a homemade DIY RC helicopter controller to our high school to show off to his friends. He was a Freshman. It looked just like a bomb and he was handcuffed at school and kicked out of school. He was never allowed to re-enroll. He actually never even graduated high school and he was one of the smartest kids in our class.

It made the local news and NO ONE was sympathetic towards the kid. He was sent to juvenile jail. It did not make national news. WHY DO YOU THINK IT DIDN'T MAKE NATIONAL NEWS???????

I'm going to take a guess - maybe it was because the media COULD NOT PLAY THE RACE CARD.

fisky wrote:

Hey, I've a question for any electronics guys or DIYers out there. Once you have this clock complete with a 9v battery, how difficult would it be to add wiring to a detonator that would go off when the alarm rang? Would it only require two additional wires from the alarm circuit to the detonator... or is it a lot more complex than that?

It depends on the power requirements for a particular detonator versus what comes out of the alarm clock module, but it is pretty much that easy. It doesn't take a genius to blow stuff up.

To you it's a clock. To the wrong people it is a cowardly weapon.

Authority is also a tool and misused it is an instrument of injustice.

In the wake of Columbine and Newtown, what if a brilliant white kid who was probably a bit socially awkward kid brought a briefcase with a bunch of wires and clock to school and it started beeping?

So this kid is tinkering with clocks instead of running miles or playing sports. Idle hands ....

you = brainwashed by media wrote:

6 years ago a white kid brought a homemade DIY RC helicopter controller to our high school to show off to his friends. He was a Freshman. It looked just like a bomb and he was handcuffed at school and kicked out of school. He was never allowed to re-enroll. He actually never even graduated high school and he was one of the smartest kids in our class.

It made the local news and NO ONE was sympathetic towards the kid. He was sent to juvenile jail. It did not make national news. WHY DO YOU THINK IT DIDN'T MAKE NATIONAL NEWS???????

I'm going to take a guess - maybe it was because the media COULD NOT PLAY THE RACE CARD.

Prove it

Devil's advocate wrote:

In the wake of Columbine and Newtown, what if a brilliant white kid who was probably a bit socially awkward kid brought a briefcase with a bunch of wires and clock to school and it started beeping?

He would've been sent to the office and reprimanded but not arrested, same as this kid should have been.

So all those thinking it was ok to arrest him, are you also ok with the fact that he got suspended for THREE DAYS after every knew for a fact it was a clock and not a bomb?

welcome to texas! wrote:

So all those thinking it was ok to arrest him, are you also ok with the fact that he got suspended for THREE DAYS after every knew for a fact it was a clock and not a bomb?

I got no problem with American due process. Arrest is not convicted. Suspensions can be appealed. Let Freedom ring. I will take American due process, and the freedom of the press, and everyone's freedom to post here and speak elsewhere with their opinion on the issue. I will take America every day over anywhere else.

And I will take the responsibility and duty to make an imperfect America better. I don't pretend to know enough about the fine details of this incident to pass judgment like a judge or jury on either the kid or police and school officials. Nor do I pretend to know so little that I, or others, should defer to the police and school as the final say.

So you think they had probably cause to arrest this kid even after it was clear the police knew it was not a bomb? What is the point of the 4th Amendment?

No procedural due process anymore... your kids will be suspended indefinitely for whatever reason the school wants, even if it is proven that the kid didn't do anything wrong.

I am happy for the 1st Amendment protection of the press here, since they got the word out about this ignorance.

This made me laugh out loud. Some kids, even geeky smart kids, can be mind numbingly stupid.

Here is a link to a page with an image of the device the kid made.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Mark-Zuckerberg-Invites-Teen-Clockmaker-Ahmed-Mohamed-to-Facebook-327955881.html

Here is a link to a picture of an actual homemade detonator to blow up fireworks, aka explosives.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-cheap-electronic-detonator

!/

If anything, Ahmad's clock looks more like a detonator than an actual homemade detonator!

I'd bet his clock could be converted into a detonator in less than two minutes with some solder, a micro torch, a couple of wires, and the knowledge of where to solder them onto the circuit board. No wonder the police questioned him so long.

Look at that ... no charges. America due process in action.

The kid can be grateful he is in America.

fisky wrote:

This made me laugh out loud. Some kids, even geeky smart kids, can be mind numbingly stupid.

Here is a link to a page with an image of the device the kid made.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Mark-Zuckerberg-Invites-Teen-Clockmaker-Ahmed-Mohamed-to-Facebook-327955881.html

Here is a link to a picture of an actual homemade detonator to blow up fireworks, aka explosives.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-cheap-electronic-detonator

!/

If anything, Ahmad's clock looks more like a detonator than an actual homemade detonator!

I'd bet his clock could be converted into a detonator in less than two minutes with some solder, a micro torch, a couple of wires, and the knowledge of where to solder them onto the circuit board. No wonder the police questioned him so long.

Please, explain to me what would take so long in this questioning process. What are some of these many questions that would need to be asked when looking at what many at the school could already verify was a clock?

If true, does this change anybody's mind (the answer is probably not):

'Later on, while Ahmed was in his sixth period class, he was pulled out by the principal and a police officer. He was led to a room where four other officers waited. One of those officers, according to Ahmed, said: “Yup. That's who I thought it was.” [he'd never met Ahmed]

He was then questioned by police, and threatened with expulsion by the principal if he didn't make a written statement.'

For those of you who you don't think there is some "good ole boy" and "boys will be boys" attitude when it comes to some kids, but a completely different reaction based on skin color or religion, you almost make me want to laugh. But it's not a laughing matter. You are either lying to yourself or honestly don't have a clue.

I think anyone would agree that bringing that device to a school would meet the standard of reasonable articulable suspicion for investigatory detention.

So from there, if the kid can't explain anything other than "its a clock" and admits it is his, that he brought it to school, that it is not authorized by the school as a project etc., and it could be a detonator, and could have been brought to intimidate, and a teacher says she saw it and was scared, then yeah, probable cause to arrest.

A police officer may be sincere in believing that the facts establish probable cause. But if a judge examines that same information and disagrees, then probable cause does not exist (or did not exist, if the question is being decided after an arrest). So maybe a judge would say no in this case. Probable cause may have existed at the time of an arrest even if the defendant didn't actually do anything wrong. Put differently, an arrest is valid as long as it is based on probable cause, even if the arrested person is innocent.

Here, the law is a texas law against look-a-like bombs. The point being you can't excuse your conduct at a school by saying it just looks like a bomb but isn't really one. Know your surroundings and situation.

It was very stupid to bring that clock to school. VERY stupid. Think that thing would get you some special investigatory treatment from TSA at an airport???? Yeah. At a school?? Yeah.

Too bad for the kid, but this should be a lesson for him. If he chooses to make it about his religion then that is his deal, maybe he is right. But the underlying lesson he better get is to know his situation and be smart.