Remember Ahmed Mohamed? Now infamously known as "The Clock Kid" after he was arrested for bringing a clock to school that looked like a bomb. President Obama invited Mohamed to the White House and made good on his promise to meet with him.
Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015I wrote about this case and the death of see something, say something, a few weeks back.
Last week, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was handcuffed by police at his Irving, Texas, high school after a teacher suspected a science project he brought to class — a homemade clock — could have been a bomb. The now famous “suitcase clock” didn’t look like a clock, it looked like a bomb, and therefore a teacher took action to be safe and sure. Thank God the teacher was wrong. Mistakes by school officials and law enforcement officers were made and apologies for supposedly overreacting have been issued.
While Mohamed has been cleared, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the situation that remains.
These days, if you see something and say something, you’re just a paranoid bigot.
Now Ahmed and his family, who have since moved to Qatar, are demanding $15 million in damages payouts from the City of Irving Texas and the local school district where the incident took place. From local Fox 4:
Give us $15 million – or else.
That’s the demand from the family of the world’s most famous clockmaker, Ahmed Mohamed, to the City of Irving and Irving ISD. The city and district were each sent letters on Monday demanding money or else a lawsuit would be filed.
The family wants $10 million from the City of Irving and $5 million from Irving ISD for damages it claims Ahmed and the family suffered after the teen was arrested. The family also wants an apology from the two entities.
As the Fox 4 report notes, a foundation in Qatar has offered to pay for Mohamed's education.
Considering how beneficial this entire ordeal has been for Mohamed, it is unclear how he and his family have a case for demanding a whopping $15 million in damages, which would be paid out with taxpayers funds.