Nerdy 14 year old brings homemade clock to school and is arrested

[ScottDLS]

The child may have used the Internet to search for building of clock timer. When does homes land security start files on individuals. The child hit the red button. The end results is fingerprints and DNA in the file.

Since it was local LEOs that arrested him, do they take DNA on misdemeanor arrests? They did do the prints according to the story. I think arresting him was a waste of resources and just another bunch of "security theater" like what we've had for the last 14 years. The school probably should have warned him that it was possible to mistake for a hoax bomb (sounds like his Eng. teacher did, kind of). Still think the suspension is over the top.

I also think that it probably would've gone same way even if he was a "person of pallor" or Christian. I mean, we've got toddlers chewing pop tarts into dangerous weapon facsimiles. The mindless zero tolerance crowd will rule the day. Common sense is anything but common these days.

[rentz]

this entire thing is ridiculous, punishing a seemingly smart kid who did something on his free time he was proud of and threatening to expel him. Did anyone even think to bring in a bomb tech to laugh and say this is a clock?
they say it looks like a movie bomb, obviously they dont watch enough movies.

[Taypo]

Oh, please!

It looks no more like a bomb than a baritone sax.

Good grief!

You're telling me that looks like a clock?

[JALLEN]

It's hard to see details in the photo, but it has AC power, a couple of circuit boards, a display. It could be a clock, a digital voltmeter, or both, any number of things, not including a bomb or baritone sax, or a left handed IWB for a Glock, either.

I enjoy and try to exercise my sense of the absurd as often as possible, but this one will wear me out.

[LSUTiger]

People are losing their darn minds. This is slippery slope stuff if it goes any further than an over reaction.

Good thing he didn't try to make a 3D printer, he'd be in Gitmo now for having nuclear bomb making material.

Don't remind me.

[bmwrdr]

this entire thing is ridiculous, punishing a seemingly smart kid who did something on his free time he was proud of and threatening to expel him. Did anyone even think to bring in a bomb tech to laugh and say this is a clock?
they say it looks like a movie bomb, obviously they dont watch enough movies.

I guess that is the key mistake, arresting him instead of calling a bomb squad. The teacher alerted the principal which called police telling about a bomb.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015 ... /32510935/

[SewTexas]

I don't know much, but even I know there has to be something there to make it go BOOM and there's nothing, um, "boom-able" there. It's not a bomb, folks, "movie bomb" or other.

[Pawpaw]

How many school shootings occurred when you were in school? How many terrorist bombings were there?

When I was in school, the Unibomber, Black Panthers, and a few others were very active.

I dont know much about teachers other than what I read these days, but you're comfortable with one making a determination as to whether or not something is explosive. I wish I had that kind of faith in them.

These days, anyone with more than an elementary school education should be able to look at a circuit board, wires, switches, and a display and come to the conclusion that, "There's nothing here that would go BOOM".

Even so, let's say the school took the "safe" route and called the police. At the mention of "bomb", I would expect the police to send their EOD unit. Again, after one quick glance they should recognize it as not a bomb. Everyone, including the police, said he told everyone that would listen that it was a clock. What the heck was the kid arrested for???

The only thing he's guilty of is inadvertently causing a bunch of Chicken Littles to get their panties in a wad.

[Taypo]

How many school shootings occurred when you were in school? How many terrorist bombings were there?

When I was in school, the Unibomber, Black Panthers, and a few others were very active.

I dont know much about teachers other than what I read these days, but you're comfortable with one making a determination as to whether or not something is explosive. I wish I had that kind of faith in them.

These days, anyone with more than an elementary school education should be able to look at a circuit board, wires, switches, and a display and come to the conclusion that, "There's nothing here that would go BOOM".

Even so, let's say the school took the "safe" route and called the police. At the mention of "bomb", I would expect the police to send their EOD unit. Again, after one quick glance they should recognize it as not a bomb. Everyone, including the police, said he told everyone that would listen that it was a clock. What the heck was the kid arrested for???

The only thing he's guilty of is inadvertently causing a bunch of Chicken Littles to get their panties in a wad.

What exactly does something that goes BOOM look like? Road Runner style sticks of dynamite? Maybe those cool bricks of C4 with wires everywhere?

And gosh, since the kid's telling everyone it wasnt a bomb, we should just stop and let him go back to class with a beeping suitcase that he walked into school with.

[baldeagle]

Kids get handcuffed and arrested these days for drawing a picture of a gun. Parents get arrested because their four-year-old drew a gun. Kids get suspended for pointing a finger like a gun. For kissing a girl. It shouldn't be surprising that this happened to this youngster. It's a nationwide epidemic of educational idiocy, panic and irrational fear.

[VMI77]

Anything in this description sound familiar?

From Carl Sagan:

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

[jimlongley]

It's hard to see details in the photo, but it has AC power, a couple of circuit boards, a display. It could be a clock, a digital voltmeter, or both, any number of things, not including a bomb or baritone sax, or a left handed IWB for a Glock, either.

I enjoy and try to exercise my sense of the absurd as often as possible, but this one will wear me out.

It also has a battery connector and it's possible that maybe the battery was removed before the picture was taken.

Of all the parts involved, the only one that looks at all like it might represent a bomb is the case it's in.

I, also a ham, built all manner of electronics when I was a kid, and my alarm clock as early as age 9 was a 24 hour radio station clock with multiple alarm settings.

As a ham in the 70s I even built a digital watch (from a kit) but with an always active LED display it ate up batteries like they were going out of style.

I was Vice-President of the Albany Amateur Radio Association and at a board meeting the President of the club was sitting to my right. I am right handed but due to my inability to turn my left wrist properly, I have always worn my watch on my right. The Pres, also right handed, wore his watch on his left. The Pres was a jeweler and liked to wear fancy stuff, so he had a Rolex type watch with hourly chime.

As hams we both set our watches to WWV time standard, so we were within hundredths of a second of each other when out chimes went off with our wrists a couple of inches apart. The expression on his face as he stared at his watch that had just beeped three times on the hour was absolutely classic.

[puma guy]

Anything in this description sound familiar?

From Carl Sagan:

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

Hope he doesn't take offense! Amen, Carl!

[Pawpaw]

What exactly does something that goes BOOM look like? Road Runner style sticks of dynamite? Maybe those cool bricks of C4 with wires everywhere?

Now you're just arguing for argument's sake.

I'll bet you can correctly identify a circuit board two out of three times. I'll hazard a guess that you can identify a digital display and a battery. I'll even go way out on a limb and bet you can identify a wire when you see it. Now what is left... NOTHING. So where is the explosion going to come from?

And gosh, since the kid's telling everyone it wasnt a bomb, we should just stop and let him go back to class with a beeping suitcase that he walked into school with.

It's already been established it wasn't a bomb. Even the police haven't accused him of claiming it's a bomb. On what charge was he arrested?

I have absolutely no desire to live in the world you think is so correct. I'm done with this discussion.

[Taypo]

What exactly does something that goes BOOM look like? Road Runner style sticks of dynamite? Maybe those cool bricks of C4 with wires everywhere?

Now you're just arguing for argument's sake.

I'll bet you can correctly identify a circuit board two out of three times. I'll hazard a guess that you can identify a digital display and a battery. I'll even go way out on a limb and bet you can identify a wire when you see it. Now what is left... NOTHING. So where is the explosion going to come from?

Maybe I'm just too old to notice, but there appear to be a couple of pieces of backing in that suitcase. Anything behind them?

My point isn't that this was a bomb. My point is that expecting a teacher to immediately recognize that it's not a bomb is entirely optimistic. In lieu of someone on site that can, they did exactly the right thing.