Florida police arrested a Black middle schooler for making threats against staff on social media, only to find out that the Instagram account had actually been created by one of the girl's classmates.
It took Pembroke Pines police two weeks to realize that 13-year-old Nia Whims was not behind an Instagram account that was posting threats against staff members at Renaissance Charter School. Whims was arrested in November, taken away in handcuffs outside of her school and placed in a juvenile detention facility for two weeks because of the original claims.
Staff members of Whims' school found the online messages –– which included a bomb threat against the school, that led to educational facility being placed on a code yellow security alert. Staff and students were required to stay inside their classrooms under the alert.
Police claim that Nia's family didn't initially cooperate with authorities which led to the decision to place Nia under arrest.
"Due to the exigent nature of school threats and in accordance with the Mary Stoneman Douglas Act, it was determined that probable cause existed to arrest [the teen] due to available evidence as well as multiple witness statements," a police news release reads.
Nia's family reportedly began cooperating with police and a warrant was secured to reveal the IP addresses of where the Instagram account and threatening messages were made.
After further investigation, police discovered that it was a 12-year-old former classmate of Nia's that had used her information to create the account and send messages.
Charges against the Nia were dropped and now the 12-year-old behind the incident is facing multiple charges including threatening to kill or do bodily harm, falsifying a police report, penalty for disruption of an educational institution, and criminal use of information.
Marwan Porter, an attorney representing Nia, says that police should have done "their homework before putting students in handcuffs, arresting them and detaining them for two weeks."
Porter says "all options available" are being pursued to "hold [those responsible for the arrest] accountable."
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