Attorneys for Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Muslim boy who was arrested after the homemade clock he took to his Dallas-area school was mistaken for a possible bomb, are suing for $15 million, The Associated Press (AP) reports.
A law firm representing Mohamed sent letters Monday demanding $10 million from the city of Irving and $5 million from the Irving Independent School District, according to the news agency. The letters also threaten lawsuits and seek written apologies.
Ahmed took his clock to school in September, and an educator thought it could be a bomb. Ahmed was arrested but never charged, though he was suspended from school.
He later visited the White House on the invitation of President Barack Obama, who invited the teenager after word of his suspension got out on social media.
In October it was reported that Ahmed and his family were moving to Qatar, and that he had gotten his clock back from the police just ahead of the flight.
"What has happened to this family is inexcusable," Kelly Hollingsworth, an attorney for Ahmed and his family, said in an email to AP. "As indicated in the letters, the long term effects on Ahmed are incalculable."
Meribeth Sloan, a spokeswoman for Irving said the city is reviewing its letter and has no comment.
Hollingsworth said Ahmed and his younger siblings have found schools in Qatar, but his older sisters, who are 17 and 18, have not.
"Ahmed is very gratified by all of the support that he has received, but just like his siblings and his parents, he misses Texas. It is his home," Hollingsworth told AP.
After Mohamed’s story broke, one of his former teachers said Mohamedwas a troublemaker in his younger years, describing him as a “weird little kid” that could have a future in crime.
The clock debacle wasn’t the first time Mohamed raised eyebrows in the school district. In middle school he racked up a number of suspensions and once made a homemade remote to turn off one of his classroom projectors.