12-year-old Dallas student falsely arrested for terrorist threat

DALLAS — Dallas cops put Armaan Singh Sarai in jail for three days because someone mistook the solar panel on his phone-charging backpack for a bomb.

Sarai was in class when a classmate told him that he was going to tell on him because the solar panel he had looked like a bomb. 

According to a Facebook post by Sarai's cousin, "A bully in class thought it would be funny to accuse him of having a bomb, and so the principal, without any questioning, interrogation, or notification to his parents, called the police."

Neither the cops nor Sarai's school notified his parents. Though he's only 12, Sarai has had multiple heart surgeries due to a congenital problem -- his parents were worried for his health as well as his safety.

Police have charged Sarai with a terrorism-related offense (translation from Texas-ese: "Owning electronics while brown"), and though he is out of jail, he has to wear a locator cuff on his ankle.

He was charged with “making a terroristic threat,” according to the Morning News. It’s unclear, however, if he is being charged as an adult or a child, or if the charge is a misdemeanor or a felony. He must wear an ankle monitor and remain under house arrest until his next court date.

Sarai comes from a Sikh family, a community that in recent months have been subjected to the same bigotry targeting Muslim Americans.   

This marks the second time this year a student was arrested at school for a potential terrorist threat. 

Earlier this year 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed received national attention after he was arrested in Irving, Texas when a teacher mistook his home-made clock for a bomb.