The attorney for the family of Ahmed Mohamed, the 14 year old boy who was arrested in his Texas school for a handmade clock which was mistaken for a time bomb, is demanding an apology from Irving, Texas school officials as well as $15 million in punitive damages if this classic case of racism reaches a civil suit.
In September, Ahmed made headlines when he bought a handmade clock to school for a science project, but a teacher who erroneously thought is was a bomb, notified school authorities who in turn called the police. The young teenager was arrested and questioned before being released to his parents. The school said it reacted with such fervor because the contraption that had wires could have been an explosive device, but it was just a clock.
The attorney representing the Mohamed family says that Ahmed suffered significant psychological trauma and that his “reputation in the global community is permanently scarred.” Attorney Kelly Hollingsworth says that his civil rights were violated, with cover ups within the school district including the arresting officer not reading the teenager his Miranda Rights.
#IStandWithAhmed began trending on Twitter, with President Barack Obama inviting the teen to attend an event at the White House and a foundation offered him a scholarship to study in Qatar.
