7th-grader Handcuffed, Placed In Juvenile Detention For Bomb Threat She Didn’t Commit — Classmate Framed Her
A 7th-grader spent a total of 14 days in juvenile detention for a crime that she didn’t commit.
Nia Whims, 13, a student at Renaissance Charter School in Pembroke Pines was detained in November 2021 after threats against staff and students were made. According to reporters, she was placed in juvenile detention for two weeks as a result of the initial claims.
School staff at the Renaissance Charter School discovered messages which included a bomb threat that had been made against the educational establishment, which were all posted on Instagram. The school was placed on lockdown and Nia’s family did not cooperate with investigators initially, according to NBC so the decision went ahead to arrest her. She was placed into the back of a police cruiser while wearing handcuffs as she cried and explained that she was not responsible for those threats.
It wasn’t until a month after 13-year-old Nia’s arrest that police finally worked out she had been framed by a fellow female 12-year-old classmate, who has not been identified publicly. The other student had used all of Nia’s personal information to create email addresses and a number of Instagram accounts under her name. “It was heartbreaking that everybody thought it was me,’ Nia told the Florida news station. ‘I wanted to hide.” Charges against the teenager were dropped during a court hearing on January 28.
“Your case is being dropped today,” the judge said. @Do you have any questions for me? Good luck. I’m really sorry you went through this.’
‘It’s okay,” Nia replied humbly.
According to the Daily Mail, the 12-year-old girl believed to be behind the threats has now been “charged with written threats to kill or do bodily harm, falsifying a police report, penalty for disruption of an educational institution, and criminal use of personal information.”
Nia’s lawyer Marwan Porter, said in a statement Thursday, “When it comes to our CHILDREN, educational institutions and law enforcement must make sure they do their HOMEWORK before putting students in handcuffs, arresting and detaining them for two weeks.
It is very clear that the Pembroke Pines Police Dept. and others involved, failed to conduct a basic investigation into the false allegations which resulted in the arrest and severe emotional damage to my client. This could have happened to any one of our babies and we can not and will not tolerate it. My firm is conducting an investigation to identify those responsible for this travesty and will be pursuing all options available to hold them accountable.”