Muslim 14-year-old ARRESTED after teachers claimed the alarm clock he made for engineering class 'looked like a bomb'
- Ahmed Mohamed made his alarm clock in his bedroom on Sunday night
- He took the clock into MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas on Monday
- Teachers claimed his alarm clock looked like a bomb and called the police
- Ahmed was led away from school in handcuffs and questioned by police
Published:
05:58 EST, 16 September 2015
|
Updated:
11:06 EST, 16 September 2015
Ahmed Mohamed, pictured, was led away from school in Irving, Texas in
handcuffs after teachers mistook his home made clock for a bomb
A Muslim
teenager was arrested and led in handcuffs after bringing in his
home-made clock into school after teachers claimed the invention 'looked
like a bomb'.
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, from Irving, Texas, created the device and brought it into school to show his engineering teacher.
The student said he enjoys electronics and works on many inventions.
The youngster took his clock into MacArthur High School in Irving.
He told the Dallas Morning News
that he built the clock on Sunday in his bedroom in about 20 minutes,
using a circuit board, a digital display and several wires. He enclosed
the device into a pencil case with a tiger hologram on the front.
Ahmed said he first showed his invention to his engineering teacher, who gave him some advice.
'He was like, "That's really nice. I would advise you not to show that to other teachers."'
He
kept the clock in his bag, but it started to beep later in the day
during an English class. He showed his clock to the teacher who said it
looked like a bomb.
He
said he made the clock using a circuit board, a digital display and put
it into a metal 'pencil box'. He said he did not lock the box as he
'did not want it to look suspicious'. Instead he secured it with a
cable.
Ahmed said the principal claimed his clock looked like a 'movie bomb'.
Police arrested Ahmed and took him to juvenile detention. He has been suspended from school.
Ahmed used a apparatus similar to this, as well as a digital display and a pencil case to make his clock
He was led away from the school in handcuffs while wearing a NASA t-shirt.
Speaking after his release, Ahmed said: 'It made me feel like a I wasn't a human. It made me feel like I was a criminal.'
Police
spokesman James McLellan said: 'We have no information that he claimed
it was a bomb. He kept maintaining it was a clock, but there was no
broader explanation.
'It
could reasonably be mistaken as a device if left in a bathroom or under
a car. The concern was, what was this thing built for? Do we take him
into custody?'
Speaking after his release, Ahmed said: 'It made me feel like a I wasn't a human. It made me feel like I was a criminal'
Ahmed used a small digital display similar to this one to create his home-made clock in his bedroom
The entire invention was contained in a pencil case similar to this one according to Ahmed
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has already spoken to lawyers in connection with Ahmed's situation.
Reaction on social media has been overwhelmingly critical of the handling of the situation.
His family has asked campaigners to share the photograph of Ahmed been led away in handcuffs.
A
twitter hashtag #IStandWithAhmed has been trending prominently, with
celebrities such as Wil Wheaton, who played a child science prodigy in
Star Trek Next Generation supporting the teenager.
During
the interrogation, Ahmed was not allowed to contact his mother or
father and the authorities seized his invention as well as his tablet
computer.
Ahmed Mohamed brought his home made clock into MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, pictured
1 comment:
The hits just keep on comin. "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick, twisted and paranoid society."
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