Texas Teen Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

Police in Irving, Texas, just northwest of Dallas, are investigating after arresting a local student for bringing a homemade clock to school.

Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was handcuffed and taken to the local juvenile detention center on Monday, according to the Dallas Morning News. Police are still determining whether to charge him. Mohamed told them repeatedly that the device was not a bomb.

He has been suspended from school.

“He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told the paper. “But because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated.”

The outrage on social media was instant and viral, with #IStandWithAhmed the top trending hashtag on Twitter.

@TwitterData says the hashtag has been tweeted more than 370,000 times - approximately 2,000 times a minute.

Even presidential candidate and former First Lady Hillary Clinton chimed in, tweeting: “Assumptions and fear don’t keep us safe -- they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building.”

Twitter user Kelly Hills, of Philadelphia, tweeted: “When I was in high school, I blew up the science lab...three times. I wasn’t arrested, I was praised for my curiousity.”

A Twitter account registered to Ahmed Mohamed already has 13,5000 followers. In one post, Mohamed is shown with two women, with the caption: “Going to meet my lawyer.”

Irving Police said at a press conference on Wednesday that no charges will be filed against Mohamed. He was arrested for bringing a “hoax bomb” to the school. “The case is considered closed,” Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd said.

[PHOTO: Shutterstock]