http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-can...
Everything about this indicates that it was poorly handled. And as far as I can tell, the only person who acted with any common sense and self control was the kid himself.
The engineering teacher said it was a clock and told him not to show it to anyone. Think about this. If he thought it was enough to worry about, why the hell didn't he just tell the kid "you know, folks are messed in the head right now and might think this is dangerous. why don't you let me hold onto it until after school?" I mean seriously. If he thought it looked like a gun, would he have told the kid "just hide this in your backpack. no one will notice."?
The alarm went off in his English class so he had to turn it off. At that point, the English teacher freaked the hell out and reported it. Rather than calmly telling school admins and possibly school security who could take him aside and figure out what was going on, they called the cops.
The cops apprehended him, put him in cuffs, denied him access to his parents or an attorney and interrogated him. At no point did ANYONE think it was a bomb. At no time did he or anyone else claim it was one. Despite this, they still arrested him for having a "hoax bomb".
At any point in the process, a mature adult could have said "you know, this is a pretty messed up time and white folks are going to be upset by the appearance of something scary. Why don't you let me hold onto this until you are ready to go home?". No one did. Instead, they decided it would be a great idea to introduce a gifted and talented student to the ugly side of the legal system.
Great job, Texas. Never change.
Yeah that about sums it up.
And I am sure he will win a fair amount of money when he sues. which is fine except it will just mean less money for better training of officers, etc. and to be honest he didn't really suffer. Heck with getting invited to the White House and other media attention is actually doing rather well.
I hadn't seen a photo of the clock before this article. I will say, I can see how some people might look at the briefcase and automatically assume it's a bomb or something way more sinister than a clock (that coming from what we see in the entertainment industry). While I agree that there was way too much overreacting on most accounts, I imagine that there are specific policies that the school has in place that deal with suspicious activity/items. The school was probably following that protocol. Although, once you find out it's not a bomb and there is absolutely no danger to anyone, let's go ahead an move on.
that coming from what we see in the entertainment industry
That being the problem. That was apparently also the Detective-in-Charge's reason it was a bomb. A law enforcement officer basing his judgment on movies is deeply terrifying.
The entire country is basing its threat analysis on movie scenarios. Bruce Schneier has written on this a bunch on the past. Still, one would think that the complete lack of anything explosive-looking would be a clue that the clock wasn't a bomb.
It's not quite the same as that college girl who was detained for wearing an LED shirt in an airport a while back (2007?), as she had the presence of mind to be walking around with an open can of play doh in her hand. (I looked for news reports on this incident and they're basically all dead links now--hooray for internet archival)
that coming from what we see in the entertainment industryThat being the problem. That was apparently also the Detective-in-Charge's reason it was a bomb. A law enforcement officer basing his judgment on movies is deeply terrifying.
Listen, I think it’s very facile for people to say, ‘Oh, torture is terrible.’ You posit the situation where a person that you know for sure knows the location of a nuclear bomb that has been planted in Los Angeles and will kill millions of people. You think it’s an easy question? You think it’s clear that you cannot use extreme measures to get that information out of that person?
Side note, just to speak on the character of Ahmed (and his family for even letting him do this).
Ahmed was the defense attorney for the mock trial by that preacher in Florida who judged the Qur'an to be guilty of crimes against humanity. He volunteered to go to an event that was basically set up to hate him to speak about the values he was raised with and how they came from his religion.
Nothing screams bomb to me about that picture. Sure you got a bunch of wiring and what not, but there is nothing that looks like explosives.
to be honest he didn't really suffer.
He endured the stress and fright of being interrogated by hostile police officers (after his teacher - one of the people he should be able to trust and respect - freaked out on him in the middle of the schoolday), he got suspended from school for several days, he's going to be switching schools now and have to make up for lost classtime, and you know he's going to be stigmatized by a non-negligible number of his peers.
We can quibble over what constitutes suffering, but this certainly isn't a pure win/win for him just because he's getting some positive outcomes from his mistreatment.
The school and police department need to face consequences. And sadly, in the US, it often seems like the only thing that really matters in terms of organizational consequences is a financial penalty.
We can quibble over what constitutes suffering, but this certainly isn't a pure win/win for him just because he's getting some positive outcomes from his mistreatment.
The school and police department need to face consequences. And sadly, in the US, it often seems like the only thing that really matters in terms of organizational consequences is a financial penalty.
I can agree with that but I would like the positive outcome to be something that helped all the citizens of the area to be better protected and safe (ie more police training)
And the one thing I do have an issue with is that the financial penalty often doesn't really hurt the police department but instead simply reduces the amount of money for other things.
Side note, just to speak on the character of Ahmed (and his family for even letting him do this).
Ahmed was the defense attorney for the mock trial by that preacher in Florida who judged the Qur'an to be guilty of crimes against humanity. He volunteered to go to an event that was basically set up to hate him to speak about the values he was raised with and how they came from his religion.
Ahmed's father was the defence attorney.
I find it rather disturbing that the people in authority are so clueless about what actual bombs look like that they mistook a couple of circuit boards and an LED display for anything remotely like a bomb. I'd hate to see how they respond to an actual bomb.
Of course, they seem to have caught on to the fact that it wasn't a bomb early on, and the story they tried to go with was that it was meant to look like a bomb. Which is why they interrogated the kid while denying him access to his parents while they tried to get him to confess that it was a "hoax bomb", and why they made statements like:
“We have no information that he claimed it was a bomb,” McLellan said. “He kept maintaining it was a clock, but there was no broader explanation.”
Because they can't conceive of any possible reason why a kid might want to make his own clock, and the easiest way to cover their asses is to pretend that they were scared of an innocent clock instead of admitting that they made a mistake.
You know, when I read science fiction stories with similar scenarios, I thought they were rather farfetched. I'm reevaluating my opinions now.
Because they can't conceive of any possible reason why a kid might want to make his own clock, and the easiest way to cover their asses is to pretend that they were scared of an innocent clock instead of admitting that they made a mistake.
Makes perfect sense to me. Real American children would never make anything that complex on their own initiative!
I am even willing to give the teachers a pass because they are not trained but instant a police officer came they should have know it wasn't anything dangerous. The police actions seem very odd really when you look at how they acted.
I am very curious what discretion Texas police officers are allowed under these kinds of circumstances. Is this one of those situations where if they are called, they must take actions that alter a person's life? Is this one of those "you can't say bomb on an airplane" sort of deals?
Unless they were bound by regulation to handcuff, arrest, and bring in this kid, I can't see this as anything other than REALLY bad judgement on their part.
A quick google search of Texas sovereign immunity yields some interesting results. It appears the state can pretty much decided who gets to sue it and who doesn't. I wonder if those protections extend to local government.
I am very curious what discretion Texas police officers are allowed under these kinds of circumstances. Is this one of those situations where if they are called, they must take actions that alter a person's life? Is this one of those "you can't say bomb on an airplane" sort of deals?
Unless they were bound by regulation to handcuff, arrest, and bring in this kid, I can't see this as anything other than REALLY bad judgement on their part.
There is absolutely nothing that compels them to file charges. However, in many cases an officer will go ahead and file, even if there is no cause or evidence, and let the case go to an Assistant District Attorney. Typically, a case like this will get thrown out by the ADA but the family may still have to retain a lawyer and go through some hassles before this gets thrown out.
The police do this so they don't have to make the decision. It really is just buck passing. That way if by some chance it turns out he was trying to cause trouble or it was a bomb (Let's say 0.000001% chance) then they can say "Well, we did OUR job"
Thing is, if I assume the worse and say the kid was trying to stir up trouble (which I personally doubt), it is still a huge over-reaction by the school. Especially since he had shown it to another teacher earlier and the reaction was totally different.
Unless they were bound by regulation to handcuff, arrest, and bring in this kid, I can't see this as anything other than REALLY bad judgement on their part.
Glancing over the relevant Texas statutes, it's not clear they followed procedure. They're not allowed to interview him without his parents if he requests it, and once they arrested him, his parents should have been notified. Now, maybe they followed procedure and it just didn't come across in the news reports...but they've been evasive when directly questioned on the topic. The Texas ACLU certainly seems to think there's an issue.
What I'm curious about is what role the high school principal played in all this, since he seemed to be present for most of the escalation.
I hadn't seen a photo of the clock before this article. I will say, I can see how some people might look at the briefcase
The photo makes it a bit hard to judge scale: that's not a briefcase, it's significantly smaller. Look at the size of the power plug.
Also note that the school hasn't lifted the suspension.
Also from that story:
"I think there's frustration from the students," Weaver said. "They love their school, they love their community and not really appreciating the national spotlight that's been cast upon them."
Funny, because that's not what the students seem to be saying on their own behalf.
Ahh Texas you just keep giving me reasons to support my bias that your entire state is run by f*cktards.
Chabuda wrote:I hadn't seen a photo of the clock before this article. I will say, I can see how some people might look at the briefcase
The photo makes it a bit hard to judge scale: that's not a briefcase, it's significantly smaller. Look at the size of the power plug.
It's a pencil case.
Talked to my Sudanese coworker about this. His reaction:
"Why are there so many Sudanese in Texas? I've got two cousins there and this kid's family. What the hell?"
Wow, three Sudanese families in Texas? They're taking over.
That tiger looks like a terrorist to me.
Wow, three Sudanese families in Texas? They're taking over.
Coworker could also tell they were Sufi because the Dad had green head-wear on and that they bought the media pizza. Apparently Sufis have a reputation for being fun party people in Sudan. While everyone else is praying the Sufis are playing music and eating food.
I was looking for a good meme photo of Danny DeVito exclaiming "Sufis Rule!" but failed miserably.
If his parents have the money to sue. If they have the time (years and decades) to go through the courts without losing their jobs.
Then, and only then, do they have the chance to win their day in court. And if they win, they might get enough to make it worth their time. At the taxpayer's costs. At no point in this process does the government feel any pain whatsoever.
Ahmed Mohamed's family is going to be swimming in free legal help.
Already the Council on American-Islamic Relations has said they are looking into taking legal action because that interest group has a burning need to push back against idiots in government who equate anyone with a funny name and brown skin with terrorism. And the ACLU has also been extremely vocal about the government blatantly violating Mohamed's rights.
And while Mohamed and his family may rightly get monetary damages, those law suits will also force the school district and local police to change their policies about interviewing minors without their parents or guardians being present.
So they thought it was an explosive device??
Bullshit.
They didn't evacuate the school, which you do if there is a bomb in the school.
They didn't isolate him from everyone else, which you do if someone has a bomb.
They didn't call the bomb squad, which you do if there is a bomb.
They put him in the squad car with the bomb, which you don't do if it is a bomb.
They took pictures of it, which you don't do if you think it is a bomb.
They wanted to humiliate a little brown kid.
They wanted to humiliate a little brown kid.
Yeah, that's why they switched tracks to the 'hoax bomb' claim. Texas has a pretty expansive law against hoax bombs that basically says that if someone in authority is scared of it, it's illegal. But, obviously, it's going to be easier to make that stick if they can force a confession out of him that it was supposed to be a prank or a bomb threat (hence the principal threatening to expel him if he didn't sign a confession). They clearly only backed down and decided not to prosecute after the news got out that they had arrested a 14-year-old in a NASA t-shirt for the crime of being smarter than they were.
His crime isn't being smart. It's being brown.
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