14-year-old Texas boy arrested for bringing homemade clock

[Teallaura]

Surely the burden of proof is on the accuser right?
So those accusing a 14 year old kid of intentionally making some kind of "fake bomb" or "movie bomb" or "hollywood bomb" ought to prove that? Right? Would you say that to his face?

Would you appreciate it if someone made that kind of accusation against you and/or your kid(s)?

I'm dubious this will - or even should - end up in a court but if so, and the media has reported more accurately than not, then probable cause is met. The device bears more than superficial resemblance - whether or not intended - to a 'hollywood bomb' and per our resident (although he shouldn't be) expert, more than a passing resemblance to actual IEDs. The court would not dismiss for lack of evidence, and insofar as that applies to the burden of proof (it applies to evidentiary procedure in reality) the burden is met.

My kid wouldn't be sitting down for a week if he sassed law enforcement officers let alone tore up my alarm clock!

[Teallaura]

Are you intentionally going all Karl Rove in your sad, incomplete defense of the atrocious nonsense yourbrethren have been arguing in this thread or do you just not realize the level of groupthink you've begun to engage in?

Is this, a thread where people are trying to make the arrest of a 14 year old boy not as monstrous as it truly is, the hill you want your integrity to die on?

With the slight exception that most of us argued against the arrest - and we're still unclear on why the cops were even called. Yo, WE AREN'T ARGUING FOR THE KID'S ARREST. Pay attention, will you?

[Cow Poke]

I'm dubious this will - or even should - end up in a court

Charges against the kid were dropped. If there's a lawsuit, it would be civil against the police or school authorities, and I don't think that will happen, because the defense (the school officials and police) would get to file motions of discovery and secure testimony under oath. I think that would end up bad for the kid.

My kid wouldn't be sitting down for a week if he sassed law enforcement officers let alone tore up my alarm clock!

My ghasted was flabbered when Sam claimed that he would allow his kid to take such a device to school and say "yeah, cool".

[Cow Poke]

With the slight exception that most of us argued against the arrest - and we're still unclear on why the cops were even called.

I think my comment on that questioned whether school protocol - specifically, zero tolerance - required the police to be called.

Yo, WE AREN'T ARGUING FOR THE KID'S ARREST. Pay attention, will you?

Yes, we aren't. I have never indicated agreement that an arrest was necessary or desirable.

[Teallaura]

Charges against the kid were dropped. If there's a lawsuit, it would be civil against the police or school authorities, and I don't think that will happen, because the defense (the school officials and police) would get to file motions of discovery and secure testimony under oath. I think that would end up bad for the kid.



My ghasted was flabbered when Sam claimed that he would allow his kid to take such a device to school and say "yeah, cool".

I figured if they hadn't been they would be. I don't think a civil suit is a good plan but I wouldn't be surprised.

Yeah, then go down and explain why everyone should just know a pencil case with a cable holding it together is a clock.

[Cow Poke]

It's obvious from the pictures of the circuit boards and digital display that none of this was designed and built by Ahmed. Anyone can clearly see the printing of circuit board traces and know that it's just the guts of an old clock that's been removed from the case. The traces on the circuit board are too uniform, the ribbon cable connector that runs from the pcb (printed circuit board) to the Digital display all of that points to this. also, anyone who's made a "homemade" circuit board knows they never come out looking that good. I just don't believe it's made by him...must less designed. FYI, my degree is in Electronics, and I spent 20+ years as a field and bench technician before ending up in the IT field.

Agreed, but it's almost necessary for Sam to deny this in order for him to maintain his ... um... "position".

[Cow Poke]

Are you intentionally going all Karl Rove in your sad, incomplete defense of the atrocious nonsense yourbrethren have been arguing in this thread or do you just not realize the level of groupthink you've begun to engage in?

Groupthink?


That's what started this in the first place -- everybody jumped on board defending this kid and attacking the authorities before knowing the facts.

[Sam]

Agreed, but it's almost necessary for Sam to deny this in order for him to maintain his ... um... "position".

It's not, actually, and if you read back (to posts I'm pretty sure you responded to at the time), I clearly agreed that this was a basic disassembly/reassembly project. Unlike some others, though, I didn't snicker at the kid's curiosity and tinkering as though it was somehow beneath a 14 year-old's stature.

[Sam]

Groupthink?


That's what started this in the first place -- everybody jumped on board defending this kid and attacking the authorities before knowing the facts.

Correction: "it" started with people jumping on board to attack the kid, ignorantly opining that he intended to make a "movie bomb" or a scene of some sort, without having sufficient evidence to back that assertion up.

[Cow Poke]

It's not, actually, and if you read back (to posts I'm pretty sure you responded to at the time),

WWAAAAaaannnnnhhhhhhh Sam is being snarky!

I clearly agreed that this was a basic disassembly/reassembly project.

In other words, the kid didn't invent it, nor did he design it. So he gets to go the the White House and gets all this notoriety for taking somebody else's work, and falsely presenting it as his own.

Unlike some others, though, I didn't snicker

That, Sam, is a flat out lie, if you're referring to me. Or is this just more dramaqueen nonsense on your part?

at the kid's curiosity and tinkering as though it was somehow beneath a 14 year-old's stature.

That's just dumb.

[Cow Poke]

Correction: "it" started with people jumping on board to attack the kid, ignorantly opining that he intended to make a "movie bomb" or a scene of some sort, without having sufficient evidence to back that assertion up.

Well, yeah, except for the fact that it LOOKS like a movie bomb, and for some nutty reason, he felt he needed to close it with "a cord" and misrepresented it as his own work. Except for those FACTS.....

[Cow Poke]

I clearly agreed that this was a basic disassembly/reassembly project.

Cool. So how can this be called his "invention"?

And, for bonus points, if he had disassembled/reassembled a term paper, and presented that as his own work, would that be coolness?

[lilpixieofterror]

I had been avoiding saying anything until now but having a wee bit more than a passing knowledge of improvised, field expedient and homemade explosives, incendiaries and infernal devices (yes, there is a reason why I used that particular phrasing but won't get into it here), the device does superficially resemble something that could detonate a bomb. It is only after a bit of a closer look by someone who does know what to look for that it becomes apparent that it would perform somewhat poorly in this role -- but still could work with only the barest of modifications. I do not blame the teachers or your average police officer for being cautious especially if, as some reports suggest, Ahmed was not being very forthright with them when they questioned him.

You're right. I'm no expert in explosives of any type, but it wouldn't be that hard to turn an alarm clock into a trigger (I'm not going to say how to do this, but I can think of one way to accomplish this without much work involved).

[lilpixieofterror]

That would "Hertz" I suppose.

But I'm not sure what the Hz has to do with shocking. It would depend on the wattage.

I've been shocked by quite a few different voltages and wattage's and I find AC ones to be the more painful of the two (plus their tendency to grab and hold doesn't help). You wouldn't want to be part of the main outgoing line of one of these generators though; they're 28.75 kilowatts per phase.

[lilpixieofterror]

Amperage.

Wattage is voltage times Amperage.