“Ahmed Mohamed, the Irving teenager who made national news after he was suspended for bringing a clock to school, is seeking $15 million in damages from the city of Irving and the Irving school district.” After the handcuffing incident in September, in which public opinion sided strongly with the youngster, he was widely praised for his interest in science, appeared on Good Morning America and was invited to the White House; his lawyers now say, however, that Mohamed’s “reputation in the global community is permanently scarred.” [Sacramento Bee via Sam Ro (“Now you know for sure he’s an American.”)]
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Wait, he had a “reputation in the global community” that somehow got damaged by lots of news coverage, lots of giveaway goodies, a trip to Qatar to meet their friendly dictator, and a trip to the white house to meet ours?
I fail to see the injury.
You don’t see being suspended from school on false grounds as an injury? What about false arrest?
Yes, the comment that his “reputation in the global community is permanently scarred.” is a bit silly, but there are clear and very real injuries in this case.
Injuries, sure. Million of dollars of injuries, no. Even if you assume that his reputation was damaged so badly that nobody will hire him ever, that’s still doesn’t rise to $15 million.
Well, that’s true, but our entire legal system is rife with over-inflated awards for “pain & suffering” / “emotional anguish”.
That’s nothing unique to this case, particularly against a government defendant.
“That’s nothing unique to this case”
If it was unique, this blog would have less to talk about, that’s for sure.
That would be speculative.
What false grounds?
The kid brought something into the school that looked like an explosive device. He was told by a teacher to put the thing away in his locker.
He didn’t.
Instead he went to another class where the thing went off, scaring the teacher and the students.
In Texas, that is a crime.
The police claim he became combative so they talked to him so they handcuffed him. Whether that is true or not will come out because we don’t have the school’s complete side of this because the law doesn’t allow them to speak on it.
We do know the kid lied to the police and to school officials. We do know that his sister had apparently gotten into similar trouble at the school. We do know that the family lawyered up and media-upped the same day, which seems to indicate that this was more of a planned incident than anything.
In days of old, the kiid would have gone home where the parents would have said “you did what?” and proceed to ground the kid.
This kid and his family want money for his actions.
“The kid brought something into the school that looked like an explosive device. He was told by a teacher to put the thing away in his locker.”
Bull. Officials from the school have admitted that they knew it was only a clock, and that all the teachers involved knew it was only a clock.
“The police claim he became combative so they talked to him so they handcuffed him.”
Cops lie.
In an interview with the kid, he says that he knew the device might look suspicious so he tied a cable around it. Why would he say such a thing unless he knew how the clock would appear?
Source of the interview: https://youtu.be/3mW4w0Y1OXE
The engineering teacher knew it was a clock. Others did not. The officials determined that it was not a bomb after he was taken to the office – not before.
Being that the kid was told to put the clock in his locker by the engineering teacher and not take it out the rest of the day because of its looks, why would the kid continue to carry it around to other classes?
As to whether the cops are telling the truth, as I said that will most likely come out when the school administration can release its information and investigation. Right now they are limited by privacy laws which, in case you missed it, the family refused to wave while the story was in the news. Why would they do that other than to prevent another side or the truth from coming out?
Cops do lie. We know the kid lied. Do you have any proof that these particular cops lied?
What false grounds, Matt? Even in a state of thoroughly idiotic over reaction, the school district and the city thought with reason that they were doing the right thing. There was no malice or conspiracy to deprive our young clock stuffer his rights. He was told by his “engineering” teacher not to display that reconfigured clock. He displayed it anyway, and was arrested for his troubles because it did look too much like a bomb to the untrained eye of a teacher. Yes, the cops do know something of what to look for, but they could hold him on charges of disturbing the peace, never mind modelling an explosive device. So, what false grounds?
Lawyer: “Qatar is nice, but it is not Texas. That is their attitude toward this.” http://althouse.blogspot.com/2015/11/qatar-is-nice-but-it-is-not-texas-that.html
Those who feel that this child should be up for Muslim sainthood may want to do a little research before going too far out on that limb. He apparently (keeping in mind that his school records are secret until the parents sign to allow their release or they have to be entered into the court records) has a history of displine problems in middle school AND he reportedly defied the teacher who told him to go put the “clock” in his locker and leave it there.
So you have untrained school staff making judgement calls on a device that resembles many of those shown on TV shows as a bomb, a child with a history of crying wolf on Muslimism and Ft Hood isn’t that far away or that long ago.
What would you do if you were in charge of the safety of hundreds of high school age children.
What would you want the school staff to do if your child was one of those hundreds.
Crikey, all of a sudden that shoe seems kind of thight…
I think it was Iowahawk who said that Mohamed should get his $15M in 50% off coupons good at Radio Shack.