Here's The Ridiculous Texas Law That Allows Law Enforcement To Pretend A Digital Clock Is A Hoax Bomb

from the everything's-bigger-in-Texas,-including-overbroad-wording dept

There may be some method behind the zero tolerance, racially-tinged madness of the Irving, Texas, police department. The department perp-walked fourteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed out of school and into its welcoming arms for the crime of not building a bomb. It was a clock, but because it had wires and a circuit board and was contained in a metal case and was on school grounds and Ahmed Mohamed's name is Ahmed Mohamed, the police decided that if it wasn't a bomb, it was the next best thing: a "bomb hoax."

So, after handcuffing him "for his safety" (ACTUAL QUOTE) and holding the non-bomb "as evidence" of a crime that wasn't committed, the department has dropped all charges. It isn't very repentant, however, despite everyone else -- including the President of the United States -- expressing support for the student. It still claims everything about the horrendous debacle was by the book. And, sadly enough, it probably was.

Mark W. Bennett, a Houston (TX) criminal-defense lawyer, pointed out that the state's "hoax bomb" statute is not just the regular kind of Texas-sized overbroad, but perhaps unconstitutionally overbroad. In a series of tweets, he broke down just how insanely stupid the law is.

1/ A hoax bomb includes a device that by its design causes reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency.

— Mark W. Bennett (@MarkWBennett) September 16, 2015

2/ Possessing a hoax bomb with intent to use it to cause reaction by an official of a public safety agency is a crime.

— Mark W. Bennett (@MarkWBennett) September 16, 2015

3/ A telephone is designed to call other telephones, making them ring, causing a reaction.

— Mark W. Bennett (@MarkWBennett) September 16, 2015

4/ So possessing a telephone with the intent to call the cops is a violation of Texas’s “hoax bomb” statute.

— Mark W. Bennett (@MarkWBennett) September 16, 2015

5/ Lesson: statute titles don’t mean anything.

— Mark W. Bennett (@MarkWBennett) September 16, 2015

In case you can't see the embed, it says the following:

1/ A hoax bomb includes a device that by its design causes reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency.

2/ Possessing a hoax bomb with intent to use it to cause reaction by an official of a public safety agency is a crime.

3/ A telephone is designed to call other telephones, making them ring, causing a reaction.

4/ So possessing a telephone with the intent to call the cops is a violation of Texas’s “hoax bomb” statute.

5/ Lesson: statute titles don’t mean anything.

Here's the actual language of the statute, which shows Bennett wasn't exaggerating.

Sec. 46.08. HOAX BOMBS.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly manufactures, sells, purchases, transports, or possesses a hoax bomb with intent to use the hoax bomb to:

(1) make another believe that the hoax bomb is an explosive or incendiary device; or

(2) cause alarm or reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies.

Well, Mohamed didn't pretend the clock was a bomb. Far from it. But that doesn't matter because of subsection (2), which takes away anything involving intent and puts it all in the fearful minds of nearly any government official. "Alarm or reaction of ANY type." How does one avoid causing an alarm or reaction in others, especially others that seem particularly easily alarmed? It's impossible.

Mohamed's science teacher wasn't alarmed, but he did remark that maybe Ahmed shouldn't show this project to anyone else. Mohamed didn't plan to, but the clock started beeping during another class and shortly thereafter, his English teacher started panicking. (But in the controlled sort of panic where a person demands someone hand over a bomb -- something no rational person would do if they actually thought the device in question was a bomb.)

Now, if we're going to play along with this statute's wordings, a whole lot of everyday items suddenly become much more "dangerous." Road flares, cell phones, batteries, a box full of wires, a vibrator, a doorbell, a power inverter… basically anything someone might feel could explode or could trigger an explosion would fall under the enormous shadow this statute casts.

But if we're going to play along with the police and the stupid law they used to defend their actions, we have to ask why several school officials -- including the English teacher who reported Mohamed to them -- weren't arrested as well. After all, they very likely knew they didn't have an actual "explosive or incendiary device" in their hands, and yet they approached the police department with claims that they did. This very definitely provoked a reaction and, at that point, the device was in the possession of school personnel. That's subsection (2).

By claiming a bomb was on the school's premises (when they likely knew it wasn't a bomb -- see also: no evacuation of the school, no warning sent to parents, etc.), they also violated subsection (1) of the statute:

make another believe that the hoax bomb is an explosive or incendiary device

Perp walking a few school officials out of the building and into squad cars would certainly teach them not to waste valuable law enforcement resources with stupid, fearful bullshit. But these actions would only be taken by a police department not so inclined to waste its own time investigating bombs that aren't bombs and arresting students who aren't criminals. And, as can clearly be seen, the Irving PD does not meet these standards.

Filed Under: ahmed mohamed, hoax bomb, laws, mark bennett, regulations, texas

Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock

from the this-is-infuriating dept

We talk a lot about police overreacting to things, but this takes things to a new and ridiculous level. The Dallas Morning News released a story last night about police in Irving, Texas, arresting 14-year old Ahmed Mohamed, a freshman in high school, for building a digital clock and bringing it in to school to show his teachers. Ahmed likes to tinker and build electronics. This is the kind of thing you'd think the school and the community would want to encourage. But, instead, he was arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center, suspended from school and the police say they may charge him for making a "hoax bomb." Except it's a clock. He never said it was a bomb. He never implied it was a bomb. Just some teachers and the police freaked out about it.

He kept the clock inside his school bag in English class, but the teacher complained when the alarm beeped in the middle of a lesson. Ahmed brought his invention up to show her afterward.

“She was like, it looks like a bomb,” he said.

“I told her, ‘It doesn’t look like a bomb to me.’”

The teacher kept the clock. When the principal and a police officer pulled Ahmed out of sixth period, he suspected he wouldn’t get it back.

They led Ahmed into a room where four other police officers waited. He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”

Ahmed felt suddenly conscious of his brown skin and his name — one of the most common in the Muslim religion. But the police kept him busy with questions.

The bell rang at least twice, he said, while the officers searched his belongings and questioned his intentions. The principal threatened to expel him if he didn’t make a written statement, he said.

“They were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?’” Ahmed said.

“I told them no, I was trying to make a clock.”

“He said, ‘It looks like a movie bomb to me.’”

The incredible thing is that the police flat out admit that he never claimed it was a bomb, but they're still considering charging him with making a hoax bomb.

Ahmed never claimed his device was anything but a clock, said police spokesman James McLellan. And police have no reason to think it was dangerous. But officers still didn’t believe Ahmed was giving them the whole story.

“We have no information that he claimed it was a bomb,” McLellan said. “He kept maintaining it was a clock, but there was no broader explanation.”

Perhaps there was no broader explanation because none is needed.

Even more ridiculous: they handcuffed this kid (wearing a NASA t-shirt, by the way) and walked him through the school as they took him away. This picture is shameful.

Ahmed's sister told me to post this. Yes this situation is real for those questioning. pic.twitter.com/Oxd0JxUS6O

— Prajwol/Ru (@OfficalPrajwol) September 16, 2015

You can also see him discuss the invention in this YouTube video: The most depressing part of the news article is how it ends:

He’s vowed never to take an invention to school again.

Curiosity killers.

The school has now doubled down on this move, by sending a letter to parents at the school congratulating themselves for this whole thing:

While we do not have any threats to our school community, we want you to be aware that the Irving Police Department responded to a suspicious-looking item on campus yesterday. We are pleased to report that after the police department's assessment, the item discovered at school did not pose a threat to your child's safety.

Our school is cooperating fully with the ongoing police investigation, and we are handling the situation in accordance with the Irving ISD Student Code of Conduct and applicable laws. Please rest assured that we will always take necessary steps to keep our school as safe as possible.

Even worse... the school is using this as a "teaching moment" telling parents to tell their kids to report any "suspicious" things. Like brown kids being curious and inventing cool shit:

I recommend using this opportunity to talk with your child about the Student Code of Conduct and specifically not bringing items to school that are prohibited. Also, this is a good time to remind your child how important it is to immediately report any suspicious items and/or suspicious behavior they observe to any school employee so we can address it right away. We will always take necessary precautions to protect our students.

And by "address" it, apparently, they mean arrest bright kids for being curious and gifted.

The whole "bomb hoax" thing based on authorities getting confused about a non-bomb reminds me of that time, back in 2007, when Cartoon Network tried to promote Adult Swim with light up boxes of various characters placed around Boston -- and because some people freaked out and the city was shut down, Boston's mayor declared the marketing stunt a "bomb hoax." Once again, if someone is building something that you mistake for a bomb, and they had no intention of passing it off as a bomb, nor does it actually look like a bomb, it's not a bomb hoax. At all. And you look ridiculous calling it out as such.

And, of course, you look that much more ridiculous when you not only overreact like this, but do it against a clearly intelligent and talented teenager who likes to tinker with electronics.

Update: A picture of the clock has now been released. Nothing about it changes the story at all.

.@IrvingPD: this is the homemade clock made by Ahmed Mohamed and brought to @IrvingISD High School. @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/owUQbQLDQy

— Ellen Bryan (@EllenBryanNBC5) September 16, 2015

Filed Under: ahmed mohamed, arrested, bomb, clock, education, hoax, hoax bomb, irving, texas, tinkering