Irving police wait patiently for 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed to pick up his homemade suitcase clock that sits at police headquarters – for a week now. Local law enforcement reached out to the family to come and get it but no one did. Instead, the family claims police won’t release it and lawyered up to get it.
However, on Wednesday, Irving police told FOX 4 Dallas (KDFW) they notified the family last Friday that the clock and all items related to the incident were available for pickup. The Mohamed family has yet to retrieve the elaborate homemade 12-volt timepiece that resembles a “hoax bomb.” The teen’s Sept. 14 arrest at MacArthur High School and subsequent suspension were based on school zero tolerance policies, not racism.
An Irving PD official read in a statement: “The student’s father, or his designated representative, may collect the items at Irving Police Headquarters.” That statement included the hours someone could stop by the station to get the clock.
Despite law enforcement’s repeated attempts to get the Mohameds to pick up the clock-in-a-box, the family claims they cannot retrieve it and lawyered up with two high-profile Dallas attorneys – Thomas Bowers and Reggie London. The family retained the duo to pursue “Ahmed’s legal rights and regain his science project from the Irving Police Department,” according to ABC News on Wednesday.
Bowers, famous for repping Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in a sexual assault allegation, told KXAS-5 he is considering legal action against the police and the school district. The family also picked up a noted publicity firm — Universal Media Group — but still, no one picked up the clock. The clock is now called the “science project,” despite the fact that it was never a school assignment.
Left of center media has piled on to the family’s spin campaign. NBC News insisted the family needed legal assistance to get Ahmed’s property returned. TPM claimed the family hired lawyers to get the clock back so he can have it for his upcoming White House visit. The Toronto Sun gasped: “The clock is in the possession of police in the Dallas suburb of Irving.” New England Cable News picked up from NBC, claiming the family “hired attorneys to get back the homemade clock.”
Youth-friendly Complex, spun a yummy yarn around one of Ahmed tweets, saying he really wants his clock back and the family hired lawyers to make that happen. On Tuesday, he tweeted: “I can’t wait to get my clock back and take it to the #WhiteHouse to show @BarackObama the invite is an honor, looking forward to meeting you!
Only, it looks like all they need to do to “regain” the treasured timepiece is visit the Irving PD. Ahmed Mohamed’s father, Dallas Sufi-imam Mohamed Elhassan Mohammad, met with Irving school district officials on Monday while the “clock” kid enjoyed VIP treatment at Google’s Northern California science fair. Ahmed has a United Nations weekend summit next, after which his father hopes to take the teen on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Then, the elder Mohamed anticipates visiting the White House, by invitation of President Obama.
Maybe they can find time to swing by the Irving police station and get the clock.
Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.
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