‘Incredible hate’: Family of Muslim teen detained over clock files lawsuit

The Irving teen who was handcuffed and detained after bringing a homemade clock to school filed a discrimination lawsuit Monday against the City of Irving and the Irving school district, saying he was singled out because he was a Muslim.

The lawsuit claims that Ahmed Mohamed’s rights were violated by the Irving school district, Irving MacArthur High School Principal Daniel Cummings and Irving police when the youth was scrutinized for possibly having a fake bomb, not a homemade clock.

“This is the only real enforcement mechanism we have,” said Fort Worth attorney Susan Hutchison, who is representing the Mohamed family.

The case was filed in Dallas federal court by Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed “as next friend for Ahmed Mohamed.” The case was assigned to senior U.S. District Court Judge A. Joe Fish in the Northern District of Texas.

While the lawsuit details a history of discrimination against Ahmed — it claims he was the target of bullying and that “kids called him Sausage Boy and Bacon Boy because he did not eat pork” — the September 2015 incident involving the clock is the main reason behind the suit.

“He would not have been treated the way he was treated had he not been an African American and a Muslim,” Hutchison said.

The detention and suspension of Ahmed became a story of international interest — he took on the nickname of “clock boy” — because he was a Muslim at a time when anti-Muslim sentiment was raging. Right wing websites claimed that the clock incident was planned with the intent of making Ahmed a celebrity, while civil rights activists stood strong behind the teen.

North Texas’ Muslim community mobilized in support of the youth and united to fight Islamaphobia.

‘It’s a pencil box’

On Sept. 14, 2015, Ahmed took a pencil box — that he had converted into an alarm clock — to Irving MacArthur High School, where he was a freshman. When he showed it to his English teacher, she said: “Is that a bomb?” He said it was an alarm clock, but was told by the teacher that she would hold the contraption for him.

Later, he was called by Cummings and Irving officer Robin Howman into a meeting with four more police officers and a school counselor.

“Ahmed was interrogated for almost an hour and a half by Irving police, despite his pleas for his parents,” the lawsuit states.

“You have a boy who took a pencil box — it's not a briefcase or a suitcase, it's a pencil box — to school because he told his English teacher he made something he was going to show her,” Hutchison said during Monday’s news conference in Dallas.

“They knew it wasn't a bomb ... hours later, they came and got him from class and started interrogating him. They refused to allow him to have his parents there. The principal told him he had to sign a statement or he would be expelled,” Hutchison said.

The lawsuit contends that Ahmed’s Fourth and 14th amendment rights were violated, which included the student being taken out of the school in handcuffs and suspended for three days.

The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable search and seizures. The 14th Amendment provides all citizens equal protection under the laws of the United States.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.

The school district posted a response to the lawsuit filing on its website Monday.

“As with any legal matter of this nature, attorneys for the school district will review the filing and respond as appropriate,” the school district stated. “Irving ISD continues to deny violating the student’s rights and will respond to claims in accordance with court rules. Because this matter is now in litigation, Irving ISD officials will have no further comment at this time.”

‘It’s not very safe’

The lawsuit is the second filed by Ahmed’s family.

Last November, attorneys representing the family sought damages from the City of Irving and school district totaling about $15 million.

Ahmed said Monday that he hopes the lawsuit will help bring justice to minority children and teens who have faced discrimination.

"I want to be the voice for them, because it's very wrong what happens to them,” Ahmed said.

The lawsuit filed Monday indicates that Ahmed became the target of “incredible hate” following the incident.

“Because of all the lies and conspiracy theories thrown out about Ahmed and his family, he has received not just hate messages, but death threats,” the lawsuit states. “Some of the examples of things sent to and said about the fourteen-year-old boy include ‘#Bin Laden Reincarnated Anyone?’ ‘You’re not welcome here’ ‘That little bastard needs to leave American soil.’”

One message to Ahmed depicted a plastic bag with the message: “A new invention for breathing underwater. Put this on your head and jump in,” according to the lawsuit.

Ahmed is a U.S. citizen and an African American Muslim. His father is a an immigrant from Sudan who became a U.S. citizen.

After being suspended, Ahmed withdrew from the Irving school district and he and his family moved to Qatar, where he attended school before before returning to Irving this summer.

Ahmed said he and his family plan to return to Qatar, where he will finish high school, because they have received death threats and hate mail.

“For the safety of my family, I have to go back to Qatar. Right now, it's not very safe to be a minority [here],” Ahmed said.

This report contains information from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published August 8, 2016 at 11:46 AM with the headline "‘Incredible hate’: Family of Muslim teen detained over clock files lawsuit."