Irving MacArthur High School student Ahmed Mohamed, 14, poses for a photo at his home in Irving, Texas on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. Mohamed was arrested and interrogated by Irving Police officers on Monday after bringing a homemade clock to school. Police don’t believe the device is dangerous, but say it could be mistaken for a fake explosive. He was suspended from school for three days, but he has not been charged. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Written by David Warren
DALLAS (AP) — A 14-year-old Muslim boy became a sensation on social media Wednesday after word spread that he had been placed in handcuffs and suspended for coming to school with a homemade clock that teachers thought resembled a bomb.
Police declined to seek any charges against Ahmed Mohamed, but that did little to tamp down criticism of police and school officials or suspicions that they had overreacted because of the boy’s religion.
Ahmed was pulled from class Monday and taken to a detention center after showing the digital clock to teachers at his suburban Dallas high school.
Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd said the clock looked “suspicious in nature,” but there was no evidence the boy meant to cause alarm at MacArthur High School. Boyd considers the case closed.
In a matter of hours, the clock made Ahmed a star on social media, with the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed tweeted nearly 750,000 times by Wednesday afternoon.
Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union condemned what they called the school’s heavy-handed tactics.
“Instead of encouraging his curiosity, intellect and ability, the Irving (school district) saw fit to throw handcuffs on a frightened 14-year-old Muslim boy wearing a NASA T-shirt and then remove him from school,” Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU in Texas, said in a statement.
The White House also weighed in.
In a tweet, President Barack Obama called Ahmed’s clock “cool” and said more kids should be inspired like him to enjoy science, because “it’s what makes America great.”
Asked if bias was involved, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it was too early “to draw that direct assessment from here.” But, he added, Ahmed’s teachers had “failed him.”
“This is an instance where you have people who have otherwise dedicated their lives to teach our children who failed in that effort, potentially because of some things in their conscience and the power of stereotypes,” he said.
The boy was invited to participate in an astronomy night the White House is organizing sometime next month with premier scientists.
In a post to his site, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said, “Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause.”
“Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you,” Zuckerberg posted. “Keep building.”
Irving MacArthur High School student Ahmed Mohamed, 14, poses for a photo at his home in Irving, Texas on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. Mohamed was arrested and interrogated by Irving Police officers on Monday after bringing a homemade clock to school. Police don’t believe the device is dangerous, but say it could be mistaken for a fake explosive. He was suspended from school for three days, but he has not been charged. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News via AP) 
