Because when people get scared they freak out and act instinctively. I'd like to see how you'd react if you were standing next to the LA Marathon and happened to see what looked like a pressure cooker in an unattended bag. You going to spend 15 minutes walking around asking everyone if it's theirs?

Context is important. When I see unattended bag at airport or train station I might wonder. If I see brown kid with science project in school my mind doesn't immediately jump to "allahu-ackbar". Maybe my brain would more easily make that sort of jump if I had eaten a few burgers on the way to class and jerked off to pictures of Reagan. The American brain is truly an incredible phenomena. All that body fat is seeping in there and disrupting neuron firing.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/muslim-student-arrested-hoax-bomb-clock-150916062821415.html

According to the kid he did tell them repeatedly that it was a clock and not a bomb. Maybe he wasn't understood well enough because of nerdy autistic speech patterns. Also, as I understand, was a violation of his rights to be questioned without parents. The fact that they tried to get him to sign some papers is very shady. This is what the issue should be about. Assuming guilt based on imaginary 24 scenario. At least he didn't get waterboarded by Chuck Norris Texas Ranger with a freedom boner.

Thanks for the video! And yeah, pretty much what I thought.

My guess is that it's not so much intelligence as it is SCD/SPD - Social-Communication/Social-Pragmatics Disorder. (Generally, people call it PLI - Pragmatic Language Impairment - these days, but it's more than just language but social contextual clues as well.)



My guess is that the teacher who told him not to let anyone else see it thought that he would understand the subtext well enough. (HINT: People might think its a bomb.) People with PLI won't get that. He even plugged it in in the middle of class without understanding what people might be worried about. I bet he explained the clock to the cops and other teachers just like he did on the video, probably in nearly the same pitch and cadence.

OK I'm braking a promise not to post again.  AV, based on your description , in my experience most high school freshmen have PLI. Those of us who have worked with freshman have other names for it.

For decades I have gone over the safety rules about not putting metal objects into electrical sockets. I even did a demo showing how a pickle would be electrocuted with ordinary 110V plugs. I used a real pickle, explaining that the pickle was like a person, had salt etc.  One year a boy ran up, grabbed the electrocuted pickle before I could stop him and ate it! Every year for at least 15 years, some freshman boy at some point during the year, would stick a paper clip onto a socket and knock himself to the floor.  14 is an amazing year for humans. It is a wonder we survive it.  I could write a book. All I can say is if any of you have a 14 year old, and they do something really incomprehensible and you ask them what they where thinking? If they reply "I don't know", that is the truthful answer. Accept it.

I am not surprised at all that this young man plugged his clock in during class. Maybe we should start a thread for pirate parents to help explain what they may see from about 13 to 15 with their children.

Context is important. When I see unattended bag at airport or train station I might wonder. If I see brown kid with science project in school my mind doesn't immediately jump to "allahu-ackbar". Maybe my brain would more easily make that sort of jump if I had eaten a few burgers on the way to class and jerked off to pictures of Reagan. The American brain is truly an incredible phenomena. All that body fat is seeping in there and disrupting neuron firing.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/muslim-student-arrested-hoax-bomb-clock-150916062821415.html

According to the kid he did tell them repeatedly that it was a clock and not a bomb. Maybe he wasn't understood well enough because of nerdy autistic speech patterns. Also, as I understand, was a violation of his rights to be questioned without parents. The fact that they tried to get him to sign some papers is very shady. This is what the issue should be about. Assuming guilt based on imaginary 24 scenario. At least he didn't get waterboarded by Chuck Norris Texas Ranger with a freedom boner.

So is actually reading the entire thread before posting redundant information. But no need for that when you want to champion a martyr's cause like some parents from your part of the world seem keen on.

Nobody assumed guilt, he was questioned and detained. That is not an assumption of guilt. Take a law or constitution class. Cause and guilt are two different things. He obviously was let go and not charged so I don't see how he was presumed guilty based on the facts. People just wanted to be safe. Also your rights as a minor student in school are severely restricted. Not surprising you didn't know this until now. Administrators always make rules about what you can wear or what you can say, etc. etc. this is n't new and not a thing that came up due to race or culture. Maybe you need to stop jerking off to pictures of Sharpton and Farakhan and put down the bean pies.

So why didn't you make it about the papers? Ask yourself that much. You were just as in the dark about the facts and details as anyone else and posting irrational emotional crap. Get off your high horse Saladin.

Yes, law enforcement personnel are allowed to question minors without their parents. They are also allowed to question minors without a lawyer present. Don't ask how I know this. This isn't TV.

Asking questions is not necessarily the same thing as taking someone into custody. It's not black and white. Obviously when you get cuffs on you and you hear "you have the right to remain silent"...

A judge of course can throw out any self incriminating statements before Miranda was read.