If you'll note, he wasn't arrested for having a bomb. He was arrested for a hoax bomb.
I think that's perfectly legitimate, as it looks like his aim was to be able to claim they thought he was a bomber. And you're buying it.
Except for the whole part where he didn't say anything even resembling, "Hey, look at this bomb I made!" He went to his teacher and said, "Hey, look at this clock I put together! Isn't it neat?"
And they obviously *DIDN'T* "think he was a bomber", based on their not isolating the kids from the "suspected bomb" in question for HOURS. There was no evacuation, the bomb squad was not called. They KNEW it wasn't a bomb, and they further had no legitimate reason to suspect he was trying to pass off a pencil-case-enclosed (what was that case, about 6" x 8", based on the size of the clock's plug behind it?) homebuilt AC-powered LED clock as a terror weapon - other than the fact that his name was Ahmed Mohamed, of course
.
From the CNN article: "Irving Police spokesman Officer James McLellan told the station, "We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only tell us that it was a clock.""
Because when you make a working clock out of spare parts, and someone asks you what it is, apparently you're supposed to tell them something else.
Add to that the numerous errors and violations of the kid's rights as a minor during the arrest and questioning without a parent or lawyer present? Irving's PD and ISD are going to be doing well not to have to completely pay for Ahmed's higher education, as opposed to simply contributing to it.