Family of teen falsely arrested over school threat announce lawsuit
Source: WPLG
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – The family of 13-year-old Nia Whims, who was falsely arrested last year after being impersonated online by someone who posted threatening messages toward her school announced Wednesday that they have filed a lawsuit against Renaissance Charter School, Meta (Facebook) and Instagram.
The Whims’ family attorney, Marwan Porter, of The Porter Firm, also announced that they have put the Pembroke Pines Police Department on notice of their intent to bring them into the lawsuit.
Nia, who is in eighth grade, was arrested at her home on Nov. 19 by Pembroke Pines police after she was accused of posting a bomb threat against her school on Instagram.
Police claimed Nia’s family chose to “exercise their rights” by not cooperating with investigators, however the teen’s attorney said she was interrogated by police at her home before she was arrested.
According to the complaint, a teacher reported the Instagram posts to the police department, and it was later determined that another student at her school had actually posted the threats.
Police confirmed that a 12-year-old girl was arrested.
“At this time we have presented charges to the state attorney and the current suspect is facing the felony charge of written threats to kill or do bodily harm,” the police department said in a news release.
Still, Nia’s family is outraged that the young teen spent nearly two weeks in a juvenile detention facility for a crime she did not commit.
They also say she had been bullied for months in the lead-up to the incident through taunting by her peers, as well as by pushing and shoving her.
The complaint states that Nia’s mother reported the incidents to the school and requested a meeting with administrators, but the school ignored her requests and failed to investigate the alleged bullying incidents, so Nia’s mother removed her from the school and enrolled her at another school.
According to the complaint, Nia and the student accused of creating a fake Instagram profile using her name had engaged in a conversation on the social media platform. The student then created the “fake” Instagram profile and sent messages to herself that would appear like they had been sent from Nia, the complaint stated.
The messages included threats to blow up the school and kill people, including the student who police said was responsible for the messages and a teacher, identified as Alia Silvera and the teacher’s family.
The lawsuit states that Silvera alerted school officials and the Pembroke Pines Police Department.
The school was placed on a “yellow alert” and police went to Nia’s home.
The complaint states that Nia admitted to engaging in a conversation online with the other student, but denied sending threatening messages.
It states that she also allowed police to take and inspect the iPad she used to communicate with the student, but they still arrested her.
According to the complaint, Nia was finally cleared of wrongdoing after police discovered the IP address actually linked the other student to the threatening messages.
“Failure to promptly investigate this easily discoverable information by the Pembroke Pines Police caused N.W. to remain in a juvenile detention facility away from her family for 11 days,” the complaint stated.
The lawsuit seeks in excess of $30,000, excluding “interest, costs and attorney’s fees.”
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Republished by the Law Office of Scott A. Ferris, P.A.