# RO: This is totally going to kill Bring Your Clock to School Day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2015, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454 "2015-09-16T08:35:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 52
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1021 "2015-09-28T19:58:18Z")
> [@simster](#): > > At any point during the day, did anyone at the school or elsewhere act as if the device were a bomb or intended to be a bomb? Nobody thought it was actually a bomb. A \*hoax \*bomb, hell yes, that’s what the arrest and suspension were for. > [@](#): > > Did Ahmend, at any point of the day, act like the device was antyhing other than a clock? No, but who was going to believe _him_? > [@](#): > > Where was the ‘probable’ cause? His name is _Ahmed Mohamed._ ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1022 "2015-09-28T20:07:20Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Did the device “cause alarm or reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency”? If the answer is “yes”, then there is your probable cause for arrest. Now, in order to convict, you would have to prove the intent to cause such an alarm or reaction. No. As cited multiple times in this thread, the offense requires intent. No intent, no offense. Therefore no indication of intent, no probable cause. I mean, no indication of intent other than being a Muslim. Because bombs. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1023 "2015-09-28T20:11:16Z")
It’s funny that the entire incident started with an alarm. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1024 "2015-09-28T20:31:03Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Well, the principal did call the police and the police were \*\*alarmed \*\*enough to \*\*react \*\*by questioning and arresting the student. By which reasoning it is literally impossible for a sincere arrest under this law to be improper. If I’m a cop who is alarmed enough by your six-month-old’s My Little Pony doll to react with a baby’s arrest, by your reasoning it’s a proper arrest. Have I got it right? ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1025 "2015-09-28T20:44:50Z")
I think the essential part of this, in regards to the arrest, is the part so many people want to say **does not matter**. Did he invent/build a digital clock? If he actually did, he put together components to create an actual digital clock, and built it in a case, and he wanted to impress a teacher, then the arrest and everything else is pretty much bullshit. If he slapped an existing clock into a case, and then deliberately set it off in class, after he was told by another teacher to not show it to anybody, then the arrest makes sense. The clock is an essential piece, it’s the main part of the story. If he actually built it, and could do it again on camera, showing his skills, that is one thing. It’s quite another if he can’t actually build a digital clock from scratch. If, as it appears, it was an existing clock he just put in a case and brought to school, and then he set it off in class, then yes, you probably will get arrested for that shit. But if he really is some budding genius, and he actually made a clock, and is just clueless about how the world works, then the arrest was absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1026 "2015-09-28T21:01:33Z")
> [@simster](#): > > but not alarmed enough to react and clear the building or call in a bomb squad. > > So - doesn’t quite follow, does it? They recognized it as a hoax bomb. Thus not needing to clear the building or call in a bomb squad. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1027 "2015-09-28T21:03:58Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > By which reasoning it is literally impossible for a sincere arrest under this law to be improper. If I’m a cop who is alarmed enough by your six-month-old’s My Little Pony doll to react with a baby’s arrest, by your reasoning it’s a proper arrest. Have I got it right? It’s not “my reasoning” - that is the plain language of the law. It is predicated on “alarm or reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency”. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1028 "2015-09-28T21:08:06Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > As has been cited multiple times in this thread, Texas law does not require intent for something to be a hoax bomb, but all offenses related to hoax bombs require the prosecution to prove intent. No intent, no offense. The intent can be seen in that he took a perfectly innocent clock and made it look more bomblike. If he wanted it to just look like a clock, he would have left it in the original case. Anyone who is supporting this kid having engineering skills based on the clock is doing him a great disservice. All he did is was remove it from its housing and screw it into a case. You know, making it look m ore like a bomb. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1029 "2015-09-28T21:21:16Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > They recognized it as a hoax bomb. Thus not needing to clear the building or call in a bomb squad. They recognized it as a clock - they recognized it as no threat - and since no one ever implied that it was intended to be used in a hoax, nor was it left to act in a suspicious like manner - how did they recognize it as a “hoax bomb”? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1030 "2015-09-28T21:22:22Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > It’s not “my reasoning” - that is the plain language of the law. It is predicated on “alarm or reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency”. Which really means that the principal and/or teacher(s) should be charged with the “hoax bomb” since they caused the alarm or reaction - one they themselves DID NOT HAVE. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1031 "2015-09-28T21:26:15Z")
> [@simster](#): > > They recognized it as a clock - they recognized it as no threat - and since no one ever implied that it was intended to be used in a hoax Why do you think the original teacher that saw the device told the student NOT to show it to anyone? Do you think it just might be because he thought it looked pretty alarming (:))? Since the student, in spite of being told, explicitly, not to show it to anyone, went out of his way to take it out during an English class, plug it into the wall and set the alarm on it so that it beeped, I would say combined with the original warning from the teacher the intent is right there. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1032 "2015-09-28T21:27:34Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Which really means that the principal and/or teacher(s) should be charged with the “hoax bomb” since they caused the alarm or reaction - one they themselves DID NOT HAVE. Neither the principal nor the teacher(s) “manufactured, sold, purchased, transported, or possessed” the device. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1033 "2015-09-28T21:33:25Z")
If anyone thought it was actually a bomb, it would be a whole nother story. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1034 "2015-09-28T21:34:57Z")
Just for those with short memories, the Unabomber made very small bombs. A pencil case with a timing device in it, left in a classroom, would cause a huge ration of shit these days, no matter who made it and left it there. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1035 "2015-09-28T21:35:00Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Why do you think the original teacher that saw the device told the student NOT to show it to anyone? Do you think it just might be because he thought it looked pretty alarming (:))? > > Since the student, in spite of being told, explicitly, not to show it to anyone, went out of his way to take it out during an English class, plug it into the wall and set the alarm on it so that it beeped, I would say combined with the original warning from the teacher the intent is right there. only intent of showing it off - not intent to alarm - we have no indication that he intended the alarm to go off, only that it did. As for possession - who was in posession of it when the police were called? Look - we can go round and rount - you infer intent of it to be a “hoax bomb” - that the kid intended for it to be mistaken as a ‘bomb’ - which is the same idiotic inference that the teachers, principle and police made - with aboslutely no evidence to back it up beyond the kids name and religion. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1036 "2015-09-28T21:35:46Z")
> [@](#): > > If anyone thought it was actually a bomb, it would be a whole nother story. Like, one that doesn’t making the Irving school district’s employees and the local police look like a bunch of morons or racists? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1037 "2015-09-28T21:36:45Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Just for those with short memories, the Unabomber made very small bombs. A pencil case with a timing device in it, left in a classroom, would cause a huge ration of shit these days, no matter who made it and left it there. Was it “left” in the classroom to be found? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1038 "2015-09-28T21:37:23Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > By which reasoning it is literally impossible for a sincere arrest under this law to be improper. If I’m a cop who is alarmed enough by your six-month-old’s My Little Pony doll to react with a baby’s arrest, by your reasoning it’s a proper arrest. Have I got it right? I find myself suddenly reminded of [an NYPD officer issuing a balloon-popping ticket](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=227453). ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1039 "2015-09-28T21:38:26Z")
I’m 100% certain it wouldn’t matter what color you are, if you brought a case to school, with a timing device built into it, and you had no good reason to explain it. Which is why it actually matters if he actually built a digital clock to show his teacher. If it is just an existing clock shoved into a case, that is wrong on many levels. This does not mean I don’t think some Texans and school officials are racist pigs, cause I know some of them are. Which is why the clock matters. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454/1040 "2015-09-28T21:40:12Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > I’m 100% certain it wouldn’t matter what color you are, if you brought a case to school, with a timing device built into it, and you had no good reason to explain it. > > Which is why it actually matters if he actually built a digital clock to show his teacher. If it is just an existing clock shoved into a case, that is wrong on many levels. > > This does not mean I don’t think some Texans and school officials are racist pigs, cause I know some of them are. > > Which is why the clock matters. God, you are such a fucking idiot. He had a good reason to bring it - to show his engineering/teacher . A “timing device” - it was a fucking clock - he thought it was “neat” - doens’t require anything other than that. He didn’t keep it hidden - he didn’t keep it secret - he didn’t let it out of his possesion or “left in a corner to be found” - he did nothing wrong. Get a fucking clue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-this-is-totally-going-to-kill-bring-your-clock-to-school-day/731454.md?page=53)