![]() ![]() The two believe that profiling had nothing to do with the situation, and that all appropriate measures were taken when handling the case. Support for Mohamed has also received criticism from several well-known public figures such as Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins. School district spokesperson Lesley Weaver also dismissed the notion that race or religion had anything to do with the issue, and that it was the students’ safety that was the main focus. ![]() The police chief plans to meet with Mohamed’s father to talk over the situation and answer any remaining questions for him. “We live in an age where you can’t take things like that to school,” Boyd said. However, Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd went on record to say that the school and responding officer’s reaction to the clock “would have been the same regardless” of Mohamed’s religion. It was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it.” But in a statement after his release, Mohamed said that he was pleased that the charges against him were dropped, and that he did not mind that he did not receive an apology from the police department. Mohamed told reporters, “I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her, she thought it was a threat to her. Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you. It’s what makes America great.” Even Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg posted in support: “Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. Twitter even saw a mention from President Obama, tweeting from the official POTUS account, “Cool clock, Ahmed. The Twitter tag #IStandWithAhmed went viral in support of the young engineer and has been mentioned in over 100,000 tweets. ![]() The incident did not stop there, however, as social media picked up on the story and many proceeded to display their outrage at the situation due to the fact that Mohamed seemed to be profiled for his identification as a Muslim. I felt like all the names I was called.” When asked to clarify, Mohamed said that in middle school he had been called a “terrorist and bomb-maker just because of my race and religion.” Mohamed’s father added that although “ just wants to invent good things for mankind, but because his name is Mohamed and because of September 11, I think my son got mistreated.” In an interview, Mohamed said, “I felt like I was a criminal. “The concern was, what was this thing built for? Do we take him into custody?” Mohamed was taken to a juvenile detention center where he was fingerprinted before eventually being released to his parents. “It could reasonably be mistaken as a device if left in a bathroom or under a car,” Irving police spokesman James McLellan told reporters. However, rather than receiving credit for his assignment, the 14-year-old was arrested and questioned by police on charges of a bomb hoax.Īccording to Mohamed, when he showed his clock to his engineering teacher, Mohamed was told that it was “very nice” but advised “not to show any other teachers.” Kept in a metal pencil case with a circuit board and a power supply, the clock later made a beeping noise in his English class.Īfter showing the English teacher his clock, Mohamed claims that she told him, “It looks like a bomb.” The teacher then confiscated the device, and soon after, the school’s principal brought Mohamed into a room with five other police officers to be questioned and have his belongings searched. On Monday, September 14, aspiring engineer Ahmed Mohamed walked into his high school in Irving, Texas, with a homemade digital clock that he been working on as a science project. President Obama tweets at Ahmed Mohamed after his arrest. ![]()
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