Ahmed Mohamed, 14yr old arrested over clock mistaken for bomb

[polak]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Polak, he was furthering your point. Obviously they knew what they were doing and weren't actually worried about a bomb going off, or of course they would have evacuated the school.

Yes I understand, I just don't think that points to racism. Just terrible management of the situation and the kid happens to not be white.

Just cause something happens to someone of a different race, doesn't mean it happened cause of racism.

[Looch City]

Polak, you don't think the one officers comments about how he "knew it would be him" is racist in any way, shape, or form?

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by polak

Just cause something happens to someone of a different race, doesn't mean it happened cause of racism.

Originally Posted by Iggy City

Polak, you don't think the one officers comments about how he "knew it would be him" is racist in any way, shape, or form?

It's been posted before

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/tex...im-clock-bomb/

When Ahmed was called out of class, he said he was brought into a room with four police officers, one of whom said, "Yup. That's who I thought it was."

Ahmed told the Dallas Morning News that he felt aware of what he looked like and his name as the officers fired questions at him.

He recalled that one officer said to him, "So you tried to make a bomb?"

He disputed that and kept telling them he'd created a clock.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Cuz it's hard to think clearly during an orgy of bigotry?

I thanked your post because it made me laugh. A lot.

[polak]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

Polak, you don't think the one officers comments about how he "knew it would be him" is racist in any way, shape, or form?

Forgot about that.

Yeah nvm. If that was actually said then it's racist as ####.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Nyah

I think that's where a lot of the controversy is coming from. The teachers obviously knew Ahmed's clock was no bomb, and no threat, and called the police anyway even after he explained to them that it was just a clock. He was treated like a criminal.

To be fair, if they didn't evacuate the school, it would seem to me that they would then be trying to determine whether he put this clock together as a hoax.

It was a clock, yes, but even his engineering teacher thought it looked suspicious.

[Nyah]

Even after he explained exactly what it was? Would a warning not have sufficed? Instead, he was arrested & held without his parents present and interrogated. I don't see anything fair about that. It was a clock.

Edit: This "hoax bomb" thing GMG too. If his clock was left unattended in the bathroom, or in a backpack on school grounds then yeah, sure...go after him for the hoax thing. That was not anywhere near the case though. He wasn't trying to hide it, he wasn't being weird about it, he was trying to show it off.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Nyah

Even after he explained exactly what it was? Would a warning not have sufficed? Instead, he was arrested & held without his parents present and interrogated. I don't see anything fair about that. It was a clock.

Edit: This "hoax bomb" thing GMG too. If his clock was left unattended in the bathroom, or in a backpack on school grounds then yeah, sure...go after him for the hoax thing. That was not anywhere near the case though. He wasn't trying to hide it, he was trying to show it off.

In the end, yes, he shouldn't have been treated as he was. It was handled extremely poorly and I doubt many would disagree with that.

But yeah, he can explain to them that it's a clock. It is. That's certainly the truth.

Based on the timeline, I think you can assume that the authorities knew it was a clock before they interrogated him and handcuffed him. I can only guess, but I suspect again that they were trying to determine whether he put it in that pencil box suitcase (which I don't really understand the purpose of, but that's beyond the point) to create a hoax. Simply telling the police that it's a clock wouldn't be the answer they are looking for.

I can't spray paint a water gun black, take it to a public place, and not expect people to question what I'm doing even if I explain to them it's just a water gun.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

It was a clock, yes, but even his engineering teacher thought it looked suspicious.

Suspicious? I didn't think so. Maybe that his fellow teachers would be morons . . . perhaps.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/ahme...bomb-1.3230261

He showed it to his engineering teacher Monday morning.

"He was like, 'That's really nice,'" Ahmed said. "'I would advise you not to show any other teachers.'"

Originally Posted by Nyah

Even after he explained exactly what it was? Would a warning not have sufficed? Instead, he was arrested & held without his parents present and interrogated. I don't see anything fair about that. It was a clock.

Indeed. What are the laws regarding this?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/tex...im-clock-bomb/

Ahmed's father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, who immigrated from Sudan and has twice run for that country's presidency, told CNN Wednesday that he was upset the school did not contact him immediately to tell him about the situation.

The first he heard of it was when he received a call from police, who said his son was being charged with having a hoax bomb, Mohamed said.
He rushed to the police station, where he saw his son "surrounded by five police and he was handcuffed," the father said. Ahmed told his father he'd asked to phone him but the police told him he could not because he was under arrest, Mohamed said.

"I asked if I could talk to or speak to my son and they told me, 'No, not right now' because they were taking his fingerprints and asking him questions," Mohamed said. "I asked if I could see the thing they were calling a bomb. The police never let me even see it but I knew what my son brought to school. It was an alarm clock that he made. He wakes up with it most mornings. ..."

A reporter at a news conference Wednesday asked Chief Boyd about the allegations that Ahmed was told he could not call his father and was interrogated alone for some time at the station.

"I'm not aware of that," the chief said, adding that the incident isn't being investigated.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by chemgear

"I'm not aware of that," the chief said, adding that the incident isn't being investigated.

Corruption at its finest.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by Nyah

Even after he explained exactly what it was? Would a warning not have sufficed? Instead, he was arrested & held without his parents present and interrogated. I don't see anything fair about that. It was a clock.

Edit: This "hoax bomb" thing GMG too. If his clock was left unattended in the bathroom, or in a backpack on school grounds then yeah, sure...go after him for the hoax thing. That was not anywhere near the case though. He wasn't trying to hide it, he wasn't being weird about it, he was trying to show it off.

I'm not really defending any of this but you sort of have to think like cops. Terrorists often do practice runs to see what reactions they can expect. If you believe the 9/11 story, the hijackers did a flight to LA prior to 9/11. The Columbine shooters made videos pretending to kill people at the school before actually killing people. Someone might have given this kid a hoax bomb to see what might happen in the real situation. It's worth a check I think. The racist stuff the cop said definitely sucks though.

Also, some crimes require a guilty mind, like if the accused didn't mean to do it, he/she is not guilty. This might be one of those situations where they needed to determine his state of mind before being able to legally dismiss the case. Just determining that the bomb was fake was probably not enough for the cops to just go home.

[Looch City]

That's bull####, this would all be different if he was white and his name was Jack Smith. I doubt the word 'terrorist' would even be thrown around if that was the case.

[Minnie]

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by polak

Are you serious?
Part of a teachers job is to keep their kids safe while they're at school and this teacher should've just guessed that it wasn't a bomb and went on their marry little way?

That would be pretty irresponsible.

This teacher has absolutely no training in bomb detection. There could have been explosive under the lining or maybe there's a small vile behind the chip with some toxic gas or something? Imagine if you were wrong and there was and you have a bunch of dead kids on your hands because of your "common sense". Why the #### would you even risk it?

And don't give me the "He's just a kid" angle.

A) Kids have shown they're more than capable of killing and causing harm at schools.

B) Someone could've easily given him the bomb. The kid didn't even have to know it was a bomb. Someone builds a clock with him and then swaps it out with a similar looking device that's actually designed to cause harm. Just like that, the kids waltz's into the school with an actual "bomb" while thinking it's just an innocent clock.

Yes those are a bit paranoid scenarios but I cannot, in any way, shape or form blame a teacher for being paranoid. She or he did exactly what they should have.

The arrest is the part I don't get. Detain the kid until you make sure that the device isn't going to cause any harm and then let him go. Why arrest him?

A bit paranoid?

Actually, it's not a bit paranoid, it's absurd. Small vials of toxic gas? Swapping it out with a similar looking device?

Do you live in a spy movie?

Jesus this discussion is just insane.

You know those stupid TSA rules that don't let you take a bottle of shampoo on an airplane, and you have to take your shoes off just in case they are made of dynamite? That pointless crap has absolutely nothing on this kind of hysteria. You might as well check every kid to make sure their drink box isn't filled with cyanide, the lunchables aren't cleverly disguised nukes, and the soccer balls aren't filled with mustard gas. I mean you can't be too careful. It's a teacher's job to make sure the kids are safe!

[blueski]

I remember in elementary school lighting off fire crackers at school. I don't think we ever did it in class but at recess it got pretty stupid at times. We used to buy them off of older kids who went to bellingham to get them. Our favorite trick was to take electrical tape and wind it very tight on screechers. You'd then pound it with a hammer. When lit it went off with tremendous force. Called them screecher bombs. The would obliterate a pumpkin. They demanded respect, would easily blow apart your hand.

The only time I remember kids getting in the trouble with the law was after we moved to Calgary in junior high. Kids with pipe bombs. Nobody ever brought those to school. Well, one kid did, he tried to blow up the school steps at Rideau Park. I think his parents were well off enough to shut down any lasting repercussions for him. He ended up losing three fingers on one hand when he had an accident. Another buddy lost a few fingers and an eye. Because he only saw in 2D he became wicked at video games.

Anyway, my how times have changed. Maybe this belongs on the I'm feeling old thread...

[speede5]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

That's bull####, this would all be different if he was white and his name was Jack Smith. I doubt the word 'terrorist' would even be thrown around if that was the case.

I don't believe we would even have heard of it if he was white. You have to go much farther to make the news if you're white.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/whit...y-offers-help/

[polak]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

A bit paranoid?

Actually, it's not a bit paranoid, it's absurd. Small vials of toxic gas? Swapping it out with a similar looking device?

Do you live in a spy movie?

Jesus this discussion is just insane.

You know those stupid TSA rules that don't let you take a bottle of shampoo on an airplane, and you have to take your shoes off just in case they are made of dynamite? That pointless crap has absolutely nothing on this kind of hysteria. You might as well check every kid to make sure their drink box isn't filled with cyanide, the lunchables aren't cleverly disguised nukes, and the soccer balls aren't filled with mustard gas. I mean you can't be too careful. It's a teacher's job to make sure the kids are safe!

I'm talking about a paranoid teacher in USA and trying to put myself in their shoes. The one teacher clearly thought it was suspicious and she did the right thing reporting it. I'd much rather her be paranoid than nonchalant about it.

The rest of the story is messed.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by polak

I'm talking about a paranoid teacher in USA and trying to put myself in their shoes. The one teacher clearly thought it was suspicious and she did the right thing reporting it. I'd much rather her be paranoid than nonchalant about it.

The rest of the story is messed.

If she thought it was suspicious then wouldn't the right thing be to alert the principal immediately, so they can go into evacuation procedure?

[polak]

Originally Posted by jayswin

If she thought it was suspicious then wouldn't the right thing be to alert the principal immediately, so they can go into evacuation procedure?

I'm assuming she did alert the principal immediately. I doubt she called the cops first.

It was the principal who went full moron.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by speede5

I don't believe we would even have heard of it if he was white. You have to go much farther to make the news if you're white.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/whit...y-offers-help/

..............unless you're a victim.