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Daily Talker: Student Arrested For Making Clock

 

A 14-year-old Muslim boy who became a sensation on social media 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 says his suspension from school still stands.

Ahmed Mohamed appeared at a news conference Wednesday alongside his attorney, a representative for the Muslim community and his family members.

"I guess everyone knows, I'm the person who built a clock and got in a lot of trouble," he said.

Irving police Chief Larry Boyd said during a news conference Wednesday that Ahmed Mohamed will not be charged with possessing a hoax bomb because there's no evidence that he meant to cause any harm.

Boyd says the clock that Ahmed built looked "suspicious in nature."

Ahmed's family says high school administrators in the Dallas suburb of Irving on Monday suspended the teenager for three days after he showed the clock to teachers.

School district spokeswoman Lesley Weaver says officials were concerned with student safety and not the boy's Muslim faith.

On Wednesday, Mohamed received praise from many on social media - and an invitation - from the president of the United States.

In a tweet posted Wednesday, Obama called Mohamed's clock "cool" and asked if he wanted to bring it to the White House.

Soon after the incident, #IStandWithAhmed was trending on Twitter and many people posted pictures of themselves posing with clocks in solidarity. The hashtag was tweeted more than a half-million times.

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