Boy, family seek $15 million … for what?

ahmed

Ahmed Mohamed once was in the news.

He was doing a science project for his school in Irving, a Dallas suburb. Ahmed brought a homemade clock to school. But the clock was confiscated, Ahmed was detained, questioned intently by school officials and police who thought he had made a bomb. He then was suspended.

The incident brought a lot of attention because Ahmed and his family are Muslim.

Mr. and Mrs. Mohamed were so upset — and rightfully so — that they took their son out of school and moved to Qatar.

That should have been the end of the story.  It isn’t.

The family is now seeking reparations from the school district totaling $15 million.

That’s right. Fifteen million bucks! They also want a written apology from the school district.

Ahmed’s reputation, they family says, has been damaged beyond repair. They want the Irving district to pay them.

I’m generally in favor of allowing plaintiffs the right to sue for as much as they can get … within reason, of course.

However, not for something like this.

Ahmed’s detention and the publicity he got over the bogus bomb scare brought him a great deal of positive attention. President Obama invited him and other science students to the White House for an astronomy demonstration project.

Ahmed’s damages, such as they are, pale in comparison to what his parents’ reputation will endure by making such an unreasonable demand for reparations.