
It seems that Ahmed Mohamedâthe young Muslim teen who was arrested at his school over a homemade clock mistaken for a bombâwill not be getting any justice in his case. A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit that was filed against the Irving, Texas, Independent School District and the city of Irving.
As the Dallas Morning News reports, the complaint claimed that Ahmedâs civil rights were violated in the September 2015 incident, when he was taken into custody at MacArthur High School and charged with making a âhoax bomb.â
That charge was later dropped, but not before the case drew a flurry of protests. Ahmedâs name became widely recognized as the 14-year-old made headlines.
âThey knew it wasnât a bomb, that he never threatened anyone, that he never said it was a bomb, that he never alarmed anyone,â Susan Hutchison, an attorney for Ahmedâs family, said after the suit was filed, the Morning News notes. âDespite all of those things, they yanked him out of his chair, put him in handcuffs and arrested him. There was no cause for arrest.â
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The lawsuitâwhich named the Irving Independent School District, the city of Irving and MacArthurâs principal as defendantsâwas based on the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
However, on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay agreed with the city and school districtâs motions to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that there was no evidence that Ahmed had faced religious or racial discrimination.
âPlaintiff does not allege any facts from which this court can reasonably infer that any [Irving Independent School District] employee intentionally discriminated against A.M. based on his race or religion,â the judge wrote in his ruling.
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The judge also ruled that the lawsuit failed to prove that the arrest violated Ahmedâs Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
âPlaintiff fails to allege a policy, custom or practice of the city that was the moving force of an alleged constitutional violation,â Lindsay declared.
Lindsay said that MacArthur High School Principal Daniel Cummings was looking out for the safety of the other students when he and a local police officer removed Ahmed from the classroom, brushing off questions in the suit that questioned Cummingsâ motives.
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âWoe unto the principal who fails to act on a potential threat that later becomes a reality!â Linsday wrote. âThis is not a situation in which a person standing in Principal Cummingsâ shoes can take unnecessary risks.â
âOn the one hand, by not taking action, he is faced with the gruesome prospect of death or serious injury of persons had the device actually been a bomb and exploded; and, on the other hand, he is faced with a federal lawsuit for denial of a studentâs constitutional rights because the device turned out not to be a bomb,â he added.
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Ahmedâs family moved to Qatar following the incident.
Read more at the Dallas Morning News.







