Discussion: Family Of Muslim Teen Arrested For Homemade Clock Files Federal Suit

Good. This one’s a pretty easy win, too.

Sorry but that was not a “homemade” clock. It was a purchased clock that was taken out of it’s plastic housing and put into that case.

I really think his parents or probably his dad, put him up to this, i.e. taking a “homemade” clock that could be easily construed as a bomb, to test the limits.

I wouldn’t take that bet, even if it weren’t Texas.

Yes, the school and law enforcement overreacted, and yes, they’re probably guilty of treating Muslims differently. But the parents decided to go to Qatar - I don’t recall any evidence that they’d been subjected to any overt threats or mistreatment. And Ahmed’s perceived need to adopt a disguise sounds like the product of, at best, an overactive imagination, or, at worst, coaching.

In short, the family seems to be handling this in the worst possible way, and they’re compounding the problem. Cooler heads all around would have been preferable.

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Going to Qatar’s immaterial to whether or not the arrest was a violation of his civil rights. And the threats they received may not have been presented to journalists to make hash of - if you’re receiving threatening e-mails and letters, you take them to the cops, not to the press.

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Too bad. Who the hell cares? The kid did something stupid. Sad.

Oh ugh. No doubt this will just become another polarizing talking point for Trump in the election. The boy and family were sympathetic figures in my eyes – that is, until they started to grift and profited all out of proportion to the emotional damage inflicted. Seems to me a call of encouragement from President Obama, appearances as a honored genius on every TV show and a full scholarship and bankrolling of the entire family in Qatar would be sufficient compensation – but there is obviously more money and attention to be extracted as well as serving the propaganda needs of – TRUMP. Today we read about Patricia Smith and “Benghazi” families also suing HRC for wrongful death. Oh ugh again.

Discovery in this one is going to be a disaster for the school district, considering that they’re already under investigation. I can’t see a significant damage award, though.

But what I found particularly on point was the line about being “discovered” at his new school. In some parts of the country, “You’re that clock kid” would have been followed by “Cool! Can you show us what you did?”

OK, so where’s the evidence that they took them to the cops?

Sorry, but I’m just not buying it. I think these folks saw this as a Golden Goose opportunity.

Given the level of awareness of most young people, and their attention spans, I’ll wager that none of them has any recollection of “that clock kid.”

The case triggered the BS meter a bit. His father ran, or attempted to run, for president of Sudan twice. So why take a clock out of its case, put it in a pencil box and show it to an English teacher? To get attention for himself, or his dad?

Probably being discussed among the lawyers in the discovery process.

And absent all of that, absent all of even the possibility of threats - the arrest itself was still a civil rights violation. He was arrested over a science project that literally any science fair in the country could have hosted. There was nothing controversial about ‘boy makes clock’. The arrest was because ‘Muslim boy makes clock’.

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No one disagrees with that. But it wasn’t a $15 million civil rights violation. The family wasn’t “forced to leave the U.S.” They seem to have gone out of their way to incur damages.

It was a misunderstanding that, with a little tact on both sides, could have been handled without a lot of hoopla.

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And that’s a perfectly valid subject to be settled in court. Asking for $15 doesn’t mean - even if they win - that they’re gonna get even $15.

I just think the kid was used by his asshole dad. I’m sure lawyers are circling like the money suckers many are, but I’d also guess this was the dad’s idea from the get go.

That’s what they’re asking for as a settlement amount. They’re just threatening to sue, and if they do, I’ll wager it’ll be for more than $15 million. Lawyers have to get their 33% - 40%.

These folks have a lot of “grifter” essence about them.

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Dude, you charged him for doing his homework, and got him suspended for three days. Of course you violated his rights.

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Really?

The family of a Muslim boy who was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school filed a federal lawsuit Monday

The $15M settlement offer was in November. They’re actually suing. At this point, we’re into the ‘you guys can let the court decide if you were aggrieved’ portion of the program.

Yes, you’re right. The $15 million settlement demand was in November. I’m surprised they didn’t jack it up for the actual suit.

Right. So we’re into the Discovery phase. If there’s no ‘there’ there, it’ll get tossed. Let the system work.