Harmless Science Experiment Gets 16-Year Old Student Arrested And Charged
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 3rd, 2013
Good morning!
Kiera Wilmot, 16, Arrested And Expelled For Explosive ‘Science Experiment’
What Kiera Wilmot claims started as a harmless experiment is now a nightmare for the 16-year-old Florida native.
Wilmot, a Bartow High School student, was arrested at her school last week for allegedly detonating a water bottle filled with an explosive concoction of common household chemicals. According to the Miami New Times, “[A] police report … indicates Wilmot mixed toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil – a combination that has inspired hundreds of YouTube videos and generally produces a fairly unimpressive explosion.”
One teen told Florida-based WTSP News 10 that Wilmot merely wanted to see what would happen when those chemicals mixed.
The experiment reportedly created a small explosion that caused the bottle’s top to pop off and produced smoke. Although no one was hurt and no property was damaged, Wilmot was charged with “possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device,” according to WTSP. Both charges are felonies.
WTSP also reports that Wilmot has been expelled and will now finish high school in an expulsion program.
According to Miami New Times, Wilmot was known as a good student. She told police that she was conducting a science experiment, though it does not appear to have been an experiment her teachers assigned.
Wilmot’s school principal, Ron Pritchard, defended the student in an interview with local news outlet The Ledger. He noted that Wilmot did not leave the premises after the explosion. “She left it [the bottle] on the ground, and she stayed there,” Pritchard said. “We went over to where she was. She saw that we saw her, so she didn’t take off.”
Wilmot’s school district released the following statement about the incident, according to the Miami New Times:
Anytime a student makes a bad choice it is disappointing to us. Unfortunately, the incident that occurred at Bartow High School yesterday was a serious breach of conduct. In order to maintain a safe and orderly learning environment, we simply must uphold our code of conduct rules. We urge our parents to join us in conveying the message that there are consequences to actions. We will not compromise the safety and security of our students and staff.
*****
Readers: Let’s just tell it like it is – getting “expelled” is the least of her worries. Here we have a young girl expelled and arrested, and charged with two felonies, for a science experiment that harmed no one, and yet we have the parents of yesterday’s story accept a gift of a gun for a 5-year old, who then kills his sister by accident, will have to live with it for the rest of his life, and the parents go free from responsibility, any sort of negligence. Not to mention that the white kids in the Boston tragedy are called naive teenagers, while this much younger black teenager is being prosecuted as a terrorist. There is something very wrong here.
Blog me.
Linsey: Not my word but my thoughts exactly. I HOPE you were out in the sunshine having fun.
Peace out.
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michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 3rd, 2013 at 12:20 pm
Face it white justice sucks for OTWs. The white teenagers who helped the Boston bombers are being accessed as acting like teenagers and we are being advised to wait and see what is happening before we rush to judgement.
But this black 16 year old is being treated as if she is a terrorist and we are being told that is what we should expect because she brought a science project to school that blew the top off a 16oz water bottle.
as Robert, RT said white Just US justice.
May 3rd, 2013 at 4:54 pm
f you do a sience project that is not sanctioned by the teacher then you get expelled. But if you are black you face felony charges.
May 3rd, 2013 at 4:55 pm
She got arrested and expelled for doing her school project? WTF is wrong with Florida’s school system?
They didn’t arrest her and expel her because the school project went wrong. They did this because she was a black girl who went to school in a racist community.
May 3rd, 2013 at 4:56 pm
In another story a little boy shoots and kills his little sister. Its ruled as ” a crazy accident”. i’m guessing if he was a black kid it would have been a different story…
May 3rd, 2013 at 4:56 pm
.doing science while Black
May 3rd, 2013 at 4:57 pm
Ditto June, and he would have been tried as an adult.
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:03 pm
It’s Actually not a bomb. Lye and aluminum is a good way to make hydrogen gas. Used to do that myself back in high school and fill balloons with it. Before helium was so readily available.
The reaction is quite exothermic though and as it heats up it accelerates. I went through a few trial and errors before I got the hang of how to set it up so it didn’t boil over. If you put it in an unvented container the pressure builds up till the lid pops off.
it’s no more a bomb than heating a can of soup till it explodes.
The over reaction of the authorities is a combination of ignorance and a petty tyrant mentality. A sad reflection on society. I predict this student will be much more successful in life than any of the authorities involved.
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:04 pm
That was a careless thing to do, but more proof as to how short-sighted, harmful, and downright vile zero tolerance policies tend to be. I am so glad I graduated high school right before those idiotic policies started being implemented everywhere.
I wonder if the school has these installed:
http://imgur.com/TyXFaYQ
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:05 pm
She needs supervision to do science?
She was away from buildings and away from people. Her intent was not to cause destruction or injury. It was a science experiment even if it wasn’t in science class.
Does it matter WHY she did it? She took the proper precautions and had an unexpected reaction. Even if it was an EXPECTED reaction, she still did it in a way that it minimized risk.
This should be taken as a learning experience and an opportunity to teach other children about experiment safety. We shouldn’t use it as an opportunity to tell children they should stay away from playing with science because it will get you arrested. These people are fools.
Or is your point that she was intending to use this to hurt people in the future and we should punish people for what we believe they are going to do/could do with the knowledge they acquire?
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:07 pm
Apparently in Colorado we don’t believe in zero tolerance – at least for some things. Several teens in one school burgled a house and stashed several guns (3 rifles and a shotgun) and other stuff at their nearby school. The WORST punishment was 6 days detention and 2 years probation.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_23088673?source=bb
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:09 pm
If she did this by “accident” then I can appreciate it. If she did this not knowing the results I think it was awesome. The reason I would think so is because I did the same thing when I got into chemistry. I was too curious for my own good and just wanted to see what would happened when I mix things…without the research :D Sure I was banned for the whole year from experiments but at least it was fun and I’ve learned my lesson :)
I’m starting to think if I did that today I might also be arrested.But then, I’m white so I doubt it.
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:10 pm
“Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?… So why the f*** doesn’t it do that?” — Steve Jobs
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:11 pm
The kids had better not shake up a bottle of coke, then, had they? Nor blow up a balloon and ‘pop’ it!
The level of stupidity is really difficult to understand!
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:13 pm
Funny because I put life savers in a coke bottle with a friend when I was in high school and it exploded much bigger than we thought it would. No consequences.
I wonder if it would’ve been the same reaction had Kiera Wilmot been white, upper-middle class, or had a connection in the law enforcement industry in Florida.
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:13 pm
I read this shit and I swear I’m in some bizzaro world. My first reaction is always, “un-f***ing-believable”… however, stories of this ilk are not only believable, they’ve become expected. Just extremely sad, disgusting, and shameful.
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:14 pm
Very, very sad story that reflects badly on our current culture. I hope is this girl eventually ends up in a school that will help her reach her full potential, it’s really obvious that Bartow H.S. has a lot of serious administration problems that don’t help but hinder the students’ educational growth there.
She must absolutely know that she is not at fault on this matter, it’s the adults around her that are the real problem. They just don’t have the mental capacity to understand how punishment should be in direct accordance to the crime committed.
She made a harmless mistake, an educational one, and nothing more than that. This should also be a wake-up call for the parents of the other students at Barlow — do you think your son or daughter is actually getting a good education at a school run by people with such limited viewpoints?
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:17 pm
The policeman tells us in the report who was the first person to make this dumb-ass call to arrest and charge the girl: Tammy Glotfelty.
She works for the Fla. State Attorney’s office at 255 N. Broadway Ave. Bartow, FL 33830-9000 Phone: (863) 534-4800 Fax: (863) 534-4945.
That’s where efforts to persuade authorities to drop charges need to go. Also, if Tammy Glotfelty feels (more than a) little heat for her call, well, could not happen to a nicer girl.
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:19 pm
I was an A student back in the day and I did stupid things like that all the time – at home and occasionally at school Did I know what would happen when I mixed HCl and Al, of course.
Did I know what would happen when I lit a match – of course! Did I know what I was doing when I designed, built, and used a circuit to charge/discharge capacitors at 300 V to make a coil gun – naturally! Dry ice pulse devices?
Improvised rocket fuel from potassium nitrate and sugar? Damn right I knew what I was doing and I enjoyed it. With and without supervision, I did all these things and didn’t give a damn what the rules were (or my teachers who helped me after class) – because I was in school to learn and I wasn’t going to let school get in the way of my education (apologies to Twain).
Many years later, I’m working in space mission design and still in school getting my PhD in physics.
It’s precisely dumb things like this that inspires students to get into STEM, even if they don’t know what they’re doing. If I saw my kids bringing together all sorts of household cleaners I’d make sure to teach them the science behind it and some basic safety and let them have a blast – literally.
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:20 pm
This girl has been expelled, will be tried as an adult on felony charges…Meanwhile, there are terrorists out here bringing explosives on trains with the intentions of creating harm and we do nothing.
America, we are going to kill ourselves. If we continue to make all the “other” people in America, the bad guys, while ignoring white Americans, then we’re going to be a culture plagued with violence from white rage.
It’s really sad because I believe we will self destruct if we don’t stop using divisive politics and justice to divide the people in America. We’ve got to stop
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:25 pm
IM so sick of black mofos putting the whole race issue in every damn thing.
Niggers can now be a black president, from another country even, niggers own TV shows, Radio shows, churches, etc. You get to run your own Events etc. One would think that would be enough.
This is why the N word is in effect cause of some of you ignorant mutha fers.
Yes, a White kid ACCIDENTALLY shot his kid sister. ACCIDENTALLY!
He didnt bring the gun to school. Kids are killing each other, blowing up sh*T, shooting up schools. its common sense.
Its a default charge.The judge is not going to leave it as a felony.The attorney is simply making a scare tactic for the kids in the schools.
SO will you niggers stop being negative idiots, Do your research and stop getting your info form the half asses news and blogs. YOU ARE DAMN IDIOTS!
May 3rd, 2013 at 5:30 pm
teenagers mess up. she should not be expelled and charged with a crime. she should get detention. jeez. the zero tolerance policies in schools are needlessly ruining kids lives
May 4th, 2013 at 8:41 am
Becky, you summed it up. School policy and its administrators has outweighed common sense in this matter. -ZL