Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Texas high schooler, was arrested and cuffed earlier this week after the homemade clock he showed to his science teacher was mistaken for a bomb.
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Created using a circuit board, a digital display, wires, and other items, the high school freshman brought his clock to school on Monday, in hopes of impressing his engineering teacher.
But when an English teacher though it looked like a bomb, the principal and police questioned Ahmed before police escorted him from school in handcuffs.
An American Muslim boy Ahmed Mohamed is breaking the internet with his new invention.
“It made me feel like I wasn’t human”, Ahmed told the newspaper.
“He just wants to invent good things for mankind”, Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told the CBS Morning News.
Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne said on her Facebook page she doesn’t fault the school or police for their actions.
Police in Irving, Texas, announced during a press conference Wednesday that they would not pursue charges against the teenager, as there was no evidence that he meant to cause any harm.
Ahmed Mohamed thought he was building a clock, but it turned out to be a magnet for fear and misunderstanding. Cuban said he would also like to get to know Mohamed. The story caught fire on social media, inspiring the #IStandWithAhmed hashtag.
Police were so careful they put Mohamed in handcuffs and escorted him out of school in front of his peers.
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was arrested after his teacher mistook the timepiece for an explosive device. “It’s what makes America great”, the president’s tweet read.
Obama, who invited Ahmed to the White House, wrote, “Cool clock, Ahmed”.
Zuckerberg joins the ranks of President Obama, Hillary Clinton, White House Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and Twitter co-founder and interim CEO Jack Dorsey, all of whom tweeted their support for Mohamed Wednesday morning.
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White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that “Ahmed’s teachers have failed him”, adding that the incident could serve as a “teachable moment” about how “pernicious stereotypes” can affect people’s judgment.
