Ahmed Mohamed, who you probably remember had his civil rights and liberties violated by a bunch of adults acting in an unconscionable manner, has lawyered up. This team of lawyers has drafted and sent a letter to the Chief of Police in Irving, Texas, Larry Boyd. They’ve sent this letter to Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne.
The primary purpose of this letter is to provide the City of Irving with formal noticeregarding the events of September 14, 2015, involving Ahmed, in which several Irving Police personnel, acting in league with numerous others, deliberately disregarded and violated Ahmed’s rights under 42 U.S.C. §1983, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Texas Juvenile Justice Code, Irving ISD’s policies and procedures, and Texas tort law. Our firm was only retained by this family a short time ago. Please do not take the list ofrights violations in this letter as exhaustive of the possible causes of action which may berelevant on these facts. Please accept this notice as an expression of our intent to pursue alllitigation necessary to achieve a full vindication of all of Ahmed’s and his family’s rights.They proceed to go through the facts of the case and the clear violations of this young man’s (child by most people’s metrics) rights. Everyone seemed to know that this clock wasn’t a bomb, even the person who began the inhumane and humiliating process that unfolded. Here are some lowlights from the letter:
The on-campus detention and 7-on-1 interrogation went on for approximately one hourand 25 minutes. Ahmed asked nearly immediately if he could contact his parents–which as you know, is his right under the Texas Juvenile Justice Code. His request was refused: “No. You’re being interrogated, so you cannot talk to your parents.” No one involved treated the clock as a potential explosive or incendiary device. The City of Irving’s documents support that the on-campus detention and interrogation lasted so long because the police were walking the decisionabout whether to arrest Ahmed up the chain of command. They were stretching the interrogationas long as possible, so they could find someone willing to take responsibility for arresting Ahmed. The decision to arrest apparently was made by the Assistant Chief. Throughout the on-campus detention and interrogation–which was recorded on the iPhone of the one female officer present during the interrogation–Ahmed constantly was pressured to sign a written statement admitting that he intended to bring a “hoax bomb” to school. As if the pressure of having five uniformed Irving police officers were not enough–none of whom saw fit to Mirandize Ahmed–Mr. Cummings was threatening that if Ahmed did not sign the confession, he would be expelled.The letter proceeds to methodically walk through and reveal the concerted effort by Irving officials, as well as school officials, to smear Ahmed and paint the incident in a variety of phony ways in order cover up their blatant bullying, racism and Islamaphobia. In the end, Ahmed’s family wants satisfaction.
1. Ten million dollars as compensation for the damages Ahmed suffered at the handsof the City of Irving and its employees. 2. A written apology from Mayor Van Duyne acknowledging that she has never been presented with any evidence that Ahmed was a “pawn” in any “civilization jihad” or that the events here were planned by Ahmed’s family or friends as partof an “influence operation.” 3. A written apology from Police Chief Larry Boyd acknowledging that AhmedMohamed never intended to threaten anyone, and that his detention, interrogation,and arrest were wrongful and were made at a point in time when there was noreasonable suspicion to believe that Ahmed had committed a crime or was about to commit a crime. There is also a demand for $5 million to be paid to the family by the school. This would bring the total to $15 million. Before everyone freaks out about our litigious society, remember this: This was a 14-year-old boy who has a family with younger siblings, who has had to move far away from his extended family for safety—if you think the residents of Irving, Texas were more understanding than these boboheads running the place, you are kidding yourself. Ahmed has had all kinds of threats sent his way, his face pasted everywhere and on every conceivable thing. He and his family’s lives have been completely flipped upside-down, simply because a) a bunch of racists wanted to do something mean to him, and then b) didn’t have even the tiniest amount of character to admit fault and thus compound the issue. The letter is the offer of settlement before a civil action, which is threatening if these demands are not met. I hope, when they sue Irving, all of the corruption in this town comes to light. Ahmed Mohamed is Irving’s black veil. He has brought their sins out into the light.