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"Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages

Posted by samzenpus on from the paying-the-price dept.

phrackthat writes: The family of Ahmed Mohamed, the boy who was arrested in Irving, Texas has threatened to sue the school and the city of Irving if they do not pay him $15 million as compensation for his arrest. To refresh the memories of everyone, Ahmed's clock was a clock he disassembled then put into a pencil case that looked like a miniature briefcase. He was briefly detained by the Irving city police to interview him and determine if he intended for his clock to be perceived as a fake bomb. He was released to his parents later on that day and they publicized the matter and claimed Ahmed was arrested because of "Islamophobia".

8 of 818 comments (clear)

  1. Litigious Much by slackerfilm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ok, I liked Clock Boy but this is just dumb. And $15 million? I sure hope he plans on donating a lot of that to science

    --

    throw the baby out. The bathwater is cold

    1. Re:Litigious Much by drnb · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If by "science" you mean creationism/intelligent design, Pi=3, genetics is wrong, evolution is a sin, and scientific theories are just "crazy ideas someguy once had that can't be proven"

      You do realize that lots of religious schools, even in Texas, teach evolution even with respect to humans, teach the big bang theory, teach that the discoveries of science are not in conflict with religion, that science and religion search for answers in orthogonal fields.

      FYI, genetic science and the big bang theory began with members of the clergy.

    2. Re:Litigious Much by vel-ex-tech · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Bump.

      To name three things that happened to me off the top of my head:

      1. Accused of criminal hacking (by, you guess it, gaslighting asshole managers^H^H^Hadministrators) and had my computer privileges revoked for a few weeks. Told me I was lucky they didn't have me arrested by the FBI and imprisoned in the big city. I was also lucky my parents didn't believe their version of events.

      That one turned out to be blatant gender discrimination. I later found out they had no problem with what I was doing, as long as it was an empowered young woman doing it.

      Oh, edit: 1.5. After I warned the librarian responsible for the open-use computers that they were infected with a virus, I was given a stern warning and told I may have broken the acceptable use policy.

      2. Accused of plagiarism because obviously a however year old I was at the time couldn't possibly program something in Pascal. They were never quite able to figure out what and who I plagiarized.

      3. Had a calculator game I'd put perhaps 3 or 4 weeks of work into erased after leaving my calculator unattended. That was definitely a lesson in keeping backups! (As in I didn't have a single backup anywhere.) That one almost escalated to a lawsuit, but to her credit, the teacher that did it became apologetic once she realized what she had actually done.

      On the other hand, I was never actually arrested.

      On the other, other hand, my motives were authentic unlike "Clock Boy," who seems to have had questionable motives. I also learned that computers are magical palantirs into cyberspace powered by waldos and that any display of talent on my part would get me labeled a dangerous criminal hacker.

      On the 3rd other hand, at a different school, my talent got me a summer and after school job. I'm certain I must have been a misogynerd who prevented a more talented woman from being offered that job. (I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, since my specialty is software development and the only woman in the class specialized in hardware and network, which would have been more relevant to the job.)

    3. Re: Litigious Much by jasno · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A few of us current engineers got started as kids doing stupid things that only resembled real engineering. I used to spend my allowance at radio shack buying random components only to hook them up to a 9v battery and a metal file to make sparks.

      Take away the backstory about how his dad probably used the kid for politics and political gain, and take away the family's scary religion, and you have a guy a lot of us would sympathize with. We were weird kids who did stupid things and scared people.

      I guess if I sat around listening to the right wing shitstorm over the issue I might feel differently. As much as I am appalled at the family's lawsuit and monetary demands, I have to admit that they did a good job trolling a bunch of stupid school administrators and small town law enforcement. The over reaction of the school and cops opened them up to this. Seriously... interrogating a kid without his parents? I remember when they tried that shit on me.

      --

      http://www.masturbateforpeace.com/
  2. That won't last long... by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The school certainly overreacted, but...

    1) the kid was not arrested, nor did he suffer any "damages" in light of the celebrity and overly-friendly treatment from the President, and
    2) once the jury hears about his overly-activist father and the lawyer's insinuation that the whole thing was a set-up?

    I'm not seeing this one going very far.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  3. Dad of Ahmed is an Islamic Supremacist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed and Robert Spencer once debated on the topic, “Does Islam Respect Human Rights?” The results were so bad for him that after the debate, The American Muslim pleaded with Muslims not to debate Spencer. In any case, this debate is one indication that Mohamed Elhassan has been trying for several years to make his bones as a warrior against “Islamophobia.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8BLtBFeyyo

    The debate starts at 31:48, after an interview with Walid Phares. On a separate note, this Sudanese Islamic activist once claimed that that incident would “spread Islam” in America

    That kid may have been innocent, but his father is an Islamic activist trying to intimidate anyone who has any concerns about Islamic activism.

  4. Step to the right direction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Perhaps this case will be dismissed or jury will decide not to award damages.

    However this will be an example. There was a story recently where two arab speaking US citizens were not admitted to the plane, because somebody feared.

    http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-kept-boarding-us-plane-speaking-arabic-023330187.html

    These two fellow American,s US citizens would have been better off recording the encounter, missing the plane and then suing for bona fide discrimination and would have won big time.

    This paranoia needs to stop and one or two cases with proper settlements would help.

  5. Okay now I give up by chispito · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I defended this kid before, thinking that it sucks to get misunderstood and just because his dad is an obnoxious pot stirring lawyer doesn't mean the kid had anything to do with it but this is just stupid. I hope they get counter sued and lose hard.

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!