14-Year-Old Irving Student Arrested For Making Clock Mistaken For Bomb
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IRVING (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - A 14-year-old Muslim boy was arrested in North Texas after a high school teacher decided that a homemade clock he brought to class could be a bomb.
Ahmed Mohamed, who enjoys tinkering with electronics, proudly brought his homemade clock to MacArthur High School in Irving on Monday. But a teacher raised concerns that it looked like a bomb, prompting the school principal and several police officers to question him, search his belongings and march him from the school in handcuffs.
At a press conference Wednesday morning, Irving police said no charges would be filed against Mohamed.
Police do not believe the device is dangerous, but said that it could be mistaken for a fake explosive.
Mohamed was suspended from school for three days.
Mekiah Morgan is Mohamed's friend, and he does not believe that the teen would ever use his smarts to harm someone. "He'll bring his inventions to class. He built a radio out of cardboard, fixed a teacher's projector. He built a camera out of cardboard. He fixed my tablet," the freshman said. "Ahmed is the nicest, intelligent kid. He wouldn't hurt anybody. I really mean that. He would not hurt anybody."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is investigating this case, saying that it is typical of the negative attitudes toward Muslims in Irving. The group's director stated that Mohamed found the arrest to be "discouraging," but he and his family are trying to remain positive, and hope that something good will come out of this ordeal.
Leslie Weaver with the Irving Independent School District said that there is a lot more to the story. "If the family in question would like to give us written permission, we would be more than happy to be able to share a more balanced story," explained Weaver.
The Irving ISD also released a statement on the incident, saying:
School officials have been cooperating fully with the police investigation, and while privacy laws prevent us from sharing specific details about student discipline, we can assure everyone that school administrators are handling the situation in accordance with the Irving ISD Student Code of Conduct and applicable laws.
Meanwhile, several celebrities have heard about the incident and took to Twitter to pledge their support for the Irving teen.
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The staff of CBSDFW.COM contributed to this story.)
