High School student arrestsed for bringing homemade clock to school.

[pryncess527]

The chief of police has verified that the MINOR CHILD was handcuffed, transferred to a juvenile detention center, fingerprinted, and questioned WITHOUT HIS PARENTS.

I struggle to think of any information at all that would justify interrogating a MINOR CHILD before his parents were able to arrive and be present.

 

[sam_gordon]

I have wondered about this too. As sources have indicated, there could be more to this story.

I guess it is possible that the school knew it was not a bomb, but something about the overall situation caused them to eventually call the police.

I read in one source that the clock made a sound while in Ahmed's bag during English class AND in another that he plugged it in after class to show the English teacher. The second seems more likely to me, since the clock appears to be AC. This just shows that different sources have different "facts." The English teacher then kept the clock. Ahmed was later pulled from another class ("sixth period"). I don't know how much later that was. I am a little curious about what happened in that intervening time. Did the English teacher just go to the principal to determine what to do? Did they talk to the Science teacher? Did Ahmed say anything to anybody? It really doesn't matter, but it is still interesting, since it may help explain all that happened later.

I can easily see a teacher keeping anything that disrupts the class and handing it over to the principal.
I can understand Ahmed having to go to the principal (and possibly even getting pulled out of class to do so) in order to explain what it is.

What I DON'T understand is why would police need to be involved at any point? IF Ahmed had hinted he was bringing a bomb or something like that, then maybe. The principal's letter to parents implies they "kept kids safe", but they don't say safe from what.

 

[JaxDad]

What I cannot understand is why, lacking any evidences that it was anything other than a clock. and with the student repeating that it was a clock and never indicating otherwise, the student was handcuffed and taken away from school.

and what I REALLY cannot understand is why, after it was determined to just be a clock and that the student never made any threats or said it was anything other than a clock, the student was still suspended for three days. What the heck is the justification for that???? A kid who likes to work with electronics built something totally benign and wanted to show his teacher so he brought it to school. HOW on earth does that result in punishment by the school?

As a PP noted, the school cannot release information on the student's actions. There may well be justification for his continued suspension. We don't know.

 

[PlutoPony]

“If the family is willing to give us written permission, we would be happy to share with the public the other side of the story so they can understand the actions we took,” Irving Independent School District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver said.The parents will not allow Ahmed's interview to be published.

Good for the parents. No freaking way would I let that interview be published.
This is an interview conducted by police and probably other people in a position of power.
This is a kid who's only 14, obviously bright and likely a little bit on the "geek" side. Interpersonal skills probably not well developed - yet.
He's scared and probably pissed..... if he's like my son he'd have been a LOT pissed because these guys interviewing him are accusing him of something he knows he didn't do, he knows he didn't do ANYTHING wrong (except maybe allow the clock to go off in English class).
AND they talked to him for a period of time (how long?) BY HIMSELF and refused to let him call his parents or anyone to be there for him - and put a stop to it.

So if this was a majority of the bright, young high school kids I know, the interview would be a mess and would probably read like who knows what. And then the lawyers and media gets a hold of the interview and the situation spins totally out of control - and not in a good way either.

 

[hopemax]

So *IF* a teacher thought this was a bomb...

1) Why was the classroom or school not evactuated?
2) Why was the bomb squad not called?

IMO, given the age we live in, the English teacher, the principal, the LEO's involved all knew there wasn't a real danger, but that they had to "do something." Lest a parent or local media found out that a Muslim kid had this thing and the authorities "just let him go." They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and this is an example of that. Everyone was more concerned about making sure that people knew that "they take these situations seriously." That they ran right over any common sense and a kid that did nothing wrong, and actually did some stuff that we'd like to see kids interested in STEM do. Now the adults are too far in, and lest they appear weak, incompetent, give any appearance that religion and ethnicity played a role, etc. they can't say they overreacted or back down.

So we get, "people don't know the whole story." Given the kid seems like he's got some book smarts, while being street smart naive, and being 14, I might guess there were comments about rights, and Islam, maybe even Allah. The parents are scared about how that would play and if it give some fire to those who still have concerns that this kid isn't some junior jihadist so these situations need to be handled "seriously."

 

[DanceswithDisney]

I hope the parents sue the teacher, admin, school board and police over this. Minor children are never to be interviewed without a court appointed advocate or their parents. This is a big time violation of Texas law. I read a story of 7 other white kids who brought home made clocks to school (one involving liquids) and no calls were made. Prosecuted while brown and better safe than sorry do not cut it in this case. Not one bit!

 

[CPanther95]

They may have just detained him until the clock turned to 1:00 pm or 13:00. If it was in military time, they could have treated him as an enemy combatant.

In defense of the school, not a single bomb has gone off at school during the time Ahmed has been suspended. Coincidence ???

 

[Disneychick75]

Good for the parents. No freaking way would I let that interview be published.
This is an interview conducted by police and probably other people in a position of power.
This is a kid who's only 14, obviously bright and likely a little bit on the "geek" side. Interpersonal skills probably not well developed - yet.
He's scared and probably pissed..... if he's like my son he'd have been a LOT pissed because these guys interviewing him are accusing him of something he knows he didn't do, he knows he didn't do ANYTHING wrong (except maybe allow the clock to go off in English class).
AND they talked to him for a period of time (how long?) BY HIMSELF and refused to let him call his parents or anyone to be there for him - and put a stop to it.

So if this was a majority of the bright, young high school kids I know, the interview would be a mess and would probably read like who knows what. And then the lawyers and media gets a hold of the interview and the situation spins totally out of control - and not in a good way either.

The problem is we are only hearing one side of the story. None of us can make valid decisions because we don't know what happened. We can only base our opinions on what we've heard and seen from Ahmed's point of view.

 

[pryncess527]

The problem is we are only hearing one side of the story. None of us can make valid decisions because we don't know what happened. We can only base our opinions on what we've heard and seen from Ahmed's point of view.

Not entirely. The chief of police has verified some of Ahmed's point of view. He admits that Ahmed was interrogated without his parents present, which is a clear violation of Texas law. He also concedes that Ahmed asked to speak to his parents and his request was denied, also in violation of Texas law.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I can easily see a teacher keeping anything that disrupts the class and handing it over to the principal.
I can understand Ahmed having to go to the principal (and possibly even getting pulled out of class to do so) in order to explain what it is.

What I DON'T understand is why would police need to be involved at any point? IF Ahmed had hinted he was bringing a bomb or something like that, then maybe. The principal's letter to parents implies they "kept kids safe", but they don't say safe from what.

Creativity
Ingenuity.
A real sense of history or science.
Any rational or logical thought whatsoever.
Etc.

The problem is we are only hearing one side of the story. None of us can make valid decisions because we don't know what happened. We can only base our opinions on what we've heard and seen from Ahmed's point of view.

Their view is expressed in their letter to the parents.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

They may have just detained him until the clock turned to 1:00 pm or 13:00. If it was in military time, they could have treated him as an enemy combatant.

In defense of the school, not a single bomb has gone off at school during the time Ahmed has been suspended. Coincidence ???

I just received a letter from my kids schools.
Note to all parents. We protect your children from dangerous clocks. We are striving diligently to make sure that no clock attacks your child.

 

[SirDuff]

The problem is we are only hearing one side of the story. None of us can make valid decisions because we don't know what happened. We can only base our opinions on what we've heard and seen from Ahmed's point of view.

No, not really. I base my thoughts on the fact that:

A) The school was not evacuated and the bomb squad was not called; and
B) A minor was led away in handcuffs and questioned at a police station because people thought he had brought a bomb to school.

Those two facts should not have occurred together - either the risk was thought to be real (in which case I can, possibly understand fact 2 but fact 1 should have occurred) or it wasn't (in which case neither fact should have occurred).

 

[kamik86]

I have seen on facebook alot of people making images showing a number of real IEDs and his clock and saying "Which one is a bomb? Oh wait too late your dead." Now that made sense when we were talking about a police offier trying to determing if a suspect was holding a BB gun or a real gun.

But in this case very few people have said that the school was wrong to call the police if they suspected there might be a problem.

The issue is that after the police did take the time to really look at the device that was no longer in the students possession they then continued to detain him, question him, the school suspended him, etc.

If the story was police were called to confirm it wasn't a bomb this would be ok.

 

[LisaR]

I have seen on facebook alot of people making images showing a number of real IEDs and his clock and saying "Which one is a bomb? Oh wait too late your dead." Now that made sense when we were talking about a police offier trying to determing if a suspect was holding a BB gun or a real gun.

But in this case very few people have said that the school was wrong to call the police if they suspected there might be a problem.

The issue is that after the police did take the time to really look at the device that was no longer in the students possession they then continued to detain him, question him, the school suspended him, etc.

If the story was police were called to confirm it wasn't a bomb this would be ok.

The fact of the matter is NOBODY, not a SINGLE person, thought this was a real bomb! If the teachers or principal thought for even a moment that this was a real bomb, it was their duty to IMMEDIATELY start evacuation procedures and call the police. When a bomb is suspected, it is common sense to evacuate!! One doesn't sit around waiting for the police (by the way, from everything I have read, only the police arrived, not the bomb squad). Instead, the English teacher gave the clock to the principal while Ahmed apparently went on to his next class. I don't know how much time elapsed, but that clock was shown to TWO teachers PLUS the principal and they did not evacuate immediately or call police. I think that speaks volumes!

Now they have a "situation" on their hands. They have this "device" sitting on a desk in the office and they have to make a decision on what to do. It certainly doesn't look like a typical alarm clock, but they also know it isn't a bomb because they haven't reacted as such. They could have called his parents and brought him down to the office to see what he had to say. If they weren't satisfied with his answers at that point, THEN they could have called the police.

 

[hopemax]

I have seen on facebook alot of people making images showing a number of real IEDs and his clock and saying "Which one is a bomb? Oh wait too late your dead." Now that made sense when we were talking about a police offier trying to determing if a suspect was holding a BB gun or a real gun.

But in this case very few people have said that the school was wrong to call the police if they suspected there might be a problem.

The issue is that after the police did take the time to really look at the device that was no longer in the students possession they then continued to detain him, question him, the school suspended him, etc.

If the story was police were called to confirm it wasn't a bomb this would be ok.

Also, if the device was of "unknown origin."

But the teachers know this kid, know his personality, demeanor, etc. they can look up his class schedule, school clubs and make a determination of "does it make sense for this kid to build and have something like this." A football player, may show up with something from the Dallas Cowboys, a drama kid might show up dressed/with something that would make sense for that, and techie kids will have stuff like this. If it was "out of the ordinary" for this kid that warrants more investigation, but if it is "normal and typical" how it got beyond, "meeting in the principal's office with involved parties (including the parents)..."

 

[JaxDad]

As an engineer and fellow geek, I'm also a little curious about the clock itself. It looks like he simply took the "guts" of an ordinary digital clock and put them back together in a case. While cool and definitely a neat hobby for a young person, this would hardly make it a "homemade clock." It is possible he did some additional work on the circuit board, but the resolution of the photo is not high enough to confirm.

 

[mnrose]

Good for the parents. No freaking way would I let that interview be published.
This is an interview conducted by police and probably other people in a position of power.
This is a kid who's only 14, obviously bright and likely a little bit on the "geek" side. Interpersonal skills probably not well developed - yet.
He's scared and probably pissed..... if he's like my son he'd have been a LOT pissed because these guys interviewing him are accusing him of something he knows he didn't do, he knows he didn't do ANYTHING wrong (except maybe allow the clock to go off in English class).
AND they talked to him for a period of time (how long?) BY HIMSELF and refused to let him call his parents or anyone to be there for him - and put a stop to it.

So if this was a majority of the bright, young high school kids I know, the interview would be a mess and would probably read like who knows what. And then the lawyers and media gets a hold of the interview and the situation spins totally out of control - and not in a good way either.

My nerdy son, who does NOT express himself well, would probably have given mono-syllabic answers and then gotten really, really angry when he wasn't believed. For all his nerd ways, my son DOES have a bit of a temper, which displays itself only when he is pushed beyond all reasonable limits. He lacks the JUDGMENT to know when it is ok, and no ok, to lose his temper and how to do express himself properly. Gee, he's a teenager. No surprise there.

 

[JaxDad]

But the teachers know this kid, know his personality, demeanor, etc. they can look up his class schedule, school clubs and make a determination of "does it make sense for this kid to build and have something like this." A football player, may show up with something from the Dallas Cowboys, a drama kid might show up dressed/with something that would make sense for that, and techie kids will have stuff like this. If it was "out of the ordinary" for this kid that warrants more investigation, but if it is "normal and typical" how it got beyond, "meeting in the principal's office with involved parties (including the parents)..."

I don't think they really did know him. He's a freshman and the school year really just started.

 

[pryncess527]

I don't think they did know him. He's a freshman and the school year really just started.

They knew he was on the robotics team. So it's not like they were completely ignorant to his interest in building things.

 

[mnrose]

No, not really. I base my thoughts on the fact that:

A) The school was not evacuated and the bomb squad was not called; and
B) A minor was led away in handcuffs and questioned at a police station because people thought he had brought a bomb to school.

Those two facts should not have occurred together - either the risk was thought to be real (in which case I can, possibly understand fact 2 but fact 1 should have occurred) or it wasn't (in which case neither fact should have occurred).

Exactly. Either they legitimately believed it was a bomb, or they didn't. They can't have it both ways. The school was NOT evacuated at any point. Ergo, they did not LEGITIMATELY believe it was a bomb.

Why call the police? Why drag the kid off in handcuffs? Why suspend him for a Student Handbook violation (and BTW, there is NOTHING in that handbook that forbids electronics or clocks)?