(EXCLUSIVE) Clock Boy’s Father Compares Discrimination Son Endured To How Blacks Are Treated

Ahmed Mohamed, aka “Clock Boy”

Clock Boy’s Father Says Son Faces Discrimination

theJasmineBRAND.com exclusively reports Ahmed Mohamed’s (referred to as ‘Clock Boy‘) father has returned to court blasting the City of Irving, Texas and the school board’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit stemming from his son’s arrest over a homemade alarm clock. He says that his son’s American Dream became an American Nightmare and even compares the discrimination to that which the African-American community and other minorities suffer everyday.

Ahmed & father Mohammed

Here’s the latest: October 27th, Clock Boy’s father headed back to court and blasted the City of Irving, Texas’ attempt to have his lawsuit dismissed. He explains that,

the crux of this case focuses upon the discrimination against and gross mistreatment of an innocent young man who, by all accounts, embodies the fabled “American Dream”—a United States citizen and the son of a Sudanese religious refugee.

Further,

Above all else, A.M. is an average 14 year-old boy with a passion for technology. However, on September 14, 2015, A.M.’s American Dream abruptly became an American nightmare all too familiar to millions of African Americans and members of myriad other minority communities throughout this country.

The father says out that the discrimination and mistreatment his son faced could hardly be shocking to individuals locally and nationally who have studied or followed the systemic abuses of Irving, Texas and the Irving Independent School District and the State of Texas.

He then points out that in 2010, the Texas State Board of Education adopted a statewide social studies and history curriculum that amended and watered down the lessons about civil rights movements, religious freedoms and America’s relationship with the United Nations and they even decided to describe Africans brought to American plantations between the 1500’s and 1800s as “workers” rather than slaves. He adds,

Further, a resolution adopted by the Board in 2010 sought to limit references to Islam in textbooks, claiming that the materials were “tainted” with “pro-Islamic, anti-Christian distortions.

Mohamed says his son has a history of tinkering with electronics in his garage and often repairs phones for friends and creates elaborate electronic contraptions to show at school.

After his teacher asked him if his homemade alarm clock was a bomb, he was surprised and confused and told her it was not a bomb. However, no other teacher has ever asked this in the numerous times Clock Boy brought a contraption to school in the past.

After holding on to the alarm clock in the administrative offices of the school for several hours, the student was interrogated for almost an hour and a half by five Irving police offers, Principal Daniel Cummings and a school counselor, despite the repetitive pleas of a scared teenager to see his parents. He claims at no point did a single officer suggest it would be a good idea to call his parents.

To make matters worse, pictures of the humiliating arrest have been permanently disseminated by news organization and social media around the world. The father points out his son’s alarm clock consisted of

1) an old Vaultz pencil box; (2) a typical 7 segment alarm clock display; (3) a pcb board soldered to a battery connector for back-up power; (4) some old wires from a non-functioning media player; (5) a 120-140 volt transformer; and (6) a button board.

And notably missing from this list of components is anything even remotely resembling incendiary or explosive material.

He is demanding the city’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit be denied and his legal battle continue pointing out that

It is also unchallenged that the five, poorly trained Irving police officers in the interrogation room failed to adhere to the most basic of police protocols during a custodial interrogation: the reading of Miranda rights. As such, all of A.M.’s statements obtained during the interrogation that, allegedly, substantiated his arrest and eventual charge, were illegally obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment right.

Here’s the backstory: Mohamed Mohamed, the father of Clock Boy, filed a Federal lawsuit against the City of Irving, Texas and Irving Independent School District accusing them of violating his son’s civil rights. Ahmed (aka Clock Boy) was arrested last year at his Texas school after showing up with a home-made alarm clock.

His father explained his son plugged in his clock to show his teacher how the device worked. She then asked if it was a bomb, which confused and surprised Ahmed. He informed his teacher it was not a bomb and rather an alarm clock. Over the years, he had brought many of his contraptions to show and shown teachers none of whom responded by asking if it was a bomb.

The teacher took the alarm and said she would hold onto it until the end of the day. She would keep the clock for hours and at no point were alarms raised, no evacuation of the school nor was a bomb squad called in.

Later that day, police showed up and pulled Ahmed out of his class and arrested him. His father claims the officers were so forcefully in pulling him from his chair, they yanked his arms up and behind his back so far that his right hand touched the back of his neck which hurt him. He was then placed in handcuffs and paraded out the front of the school with 2 officers on both sides of him and placed him in a police car.

The police then took him to the police station where he was booked including having his mug shot taken and fingerprinted, all without his parents present. Mohamed accuses the school district of having a history of racial discrimination and said the treatment his son suffered was a violation of his rights and the 14th amendment right to equal treatment under the law. He pointed out that a 2009 report found that African-American students faced racial discrimination in the Irving Independent School District

The clock situation caused a media firestorm and President Obama even invited the kid to the White House.

The lawsuit filed seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages along with attorney fees. Prior to filing the lawsuit, the family wrote a letter to the City of Irving following the arrest and suggested they were owed $15 million dollars for the treatment their son received.

The City of Irving fired back at the lawsuit accusing them of violating Clock Boy’s civil rights and are demanding the entire case be tossed out of court. According to their response, the device Ahmed brought to school had a printed circuit board, 9 volt battery, wires, a transformer, a timing display panel and alarm bell. They accuse him of repeatedly disobeying his teacher who told him to keep the device in his backpack, displayed and activated the device during a class after being told not to display the device and eventually showed his invention to another teacher who confiscated it. The city explained,

Ahmed brought a device to school which, under the Texas Penal Code, constituted a hoax bomb. Out of an abundance of caution, and for the safety of the school children and school personnel, Ahmed was taken into custody for possessing a hoax bomb at school. After further investigation, all charges against Ahmed were dropped.

Further, they said the claim Ahmed was arrested without probable cause is absurd. The city says,

Ahmed was arrested for the offense of “hoax bomb.”

Anyone who commits a criminal offense by knowingly transporting or possessing a hoax bomb with the intent to cause a reaction of any kind is against the law and they claimed Ahmed’s device met the statutory definition of a hoax bomb. In regards to his conduct that day, they believe his actions show he was not entirely innocent or bereft of intent to cause alarm or a reaction.

Therefore, due to the device being brought to the school and the actions of Ahmed on that day they believe the police had every right to arrest him regardless of it not actually being a dangerous device.

The City of Irving demanded the entire lawsuit be dismissed and Clock Boy and his family not be awarded a dime from the complaint.

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