"One thing is clear to me, regardless of what we did, no matter
what decision was made, there would've been people who agreed with
it and people who disagreed with it," police Chief Larry Boyd told
CNN.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Ahmed Mohamed, 14, is
Muslim and the case was an example of the climate of hate and
manufactured fear around the religion.
The bespectacled ninth grader in a NASA T-shirt was led away in
handcuffs from MacArthur High School on Monday after school
officials discovered the clock.
By Wednesday, the Dallas-area student had become an Internet
sensation and won several invitations, including one from President
Barack Obama to visit the White House.
"The officers made the best decision they thought that they could
make at that time, based on the information that they had," Boyd
said.
"Of course we will review this. Of course we want to go back and
look at this and all the decision points and all the alternatives,
and make sure we give our officers the best guidance we possibly can
because this won't be the last controversial decision that they have
to make."
After school resource officers determined the device was not a bomb,
Boyd said, officers investigated whether Mohamed brought the device
to school with the intent to create alarm. Boyd said it was against
the law to make a hoax bomb and cause people to be scared and call
law enforcement.
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The school principal or vice principal and officers talked to
Mohamed as they tried to figure out what was happening, Boyd said.
"There were factors and details to this that for whatever reason
weren't shared at the time," Boyd said. "Once we were able to get
all of that information, that allowed us to get to the point where
we could settle the matter."
No charges were filed and police said they considered the case
closed.
(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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