Pembroke Pines, Florida, police had arrested a 13-year-old girl November FRAMED by an ex-classmate

A teenage girl who was arrested after she was accused of making threats against students and staff at a charter school at Pembroke Pines, near Miami in Florida, was framed by another pupil at the school.

Nia Whims, who is 13 and in seventh grade was arrested by police and placed in handcuffs outside her school in November.

She was detained and placed in juvenile detention for two weeks as a result of the initial claims. 

School staff at the Renaissance Charter School where the girl attended, discovered menacing messages, including a bomb threat had been made against the educational establishment, which were all posted on Instagram. 

Nia, 13, was arrested, placed in handcuffs and detained for two weeks while an investigation was carried out

Nia Whims, wipes away a tear as she tells her story to Local 10 along side her mother Lezlie Davis, right

It was then discovered a younger classmate, aged 12, in the seventh grade at Renaissance Charter School, pictured, set up false emails and social media accounts under the Nia’s name

So serious were the threats, the school was placed on ‘code yellow’ which signifies ‘there is no immediate danger within the building or on the campus but a situation has arisen requiring all students and all staff to stay in the classrooms.’

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 sobbed. 

‘Due to the exigent nature of the school threats and in accordance with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act, it was determined that probable cause existed to arrest [the teen] due to available evidence as well as multiple witness statements,’ police said in a statement defending their actions on Thursday. 

‘It was determined that probable cause existed to arrest [Nia] due to available evidence as well as multiple witness statements,’ police said in a statement defending their actions

The details of Nia Whim’s wrongful arrest are details in police documents seen here 

But in the three months since the arrest was made, the girl’s family began helping police with their inquiries and obtained a subpoena for the IP addresses associated with the threatening messages.   

‘No mom wants to see their child being taken away from them,’ said Nia’s mom, Lezlie Davis, to Local 10. who insisted that there be a thorough investigation into what she believes may be life-long trauma for her daughter.

‘Before you place a child in cuffs, there should be a thorough investigation, and a life shouldn’t be scarred,’ Davis said.

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 youngster had used all of Nia’s personal information to create email addresses and a number of Instagram accounts under her name.   

After doing so, the 12-year-old fired off several threatening messages to students at the school including herself in order to keep up the lie. 

Nia was in tears as she was led away from her school wearing handcuffs 

When questioned by police, the girl then lied in order to lay the blame with Nia. 

‘I kept telling them “I didn’t do this”, but they didn’t listen,’ she said.  

Charges against the teenager were dropped during a court hearing on January 28. 

During the hearing, the judge could be heard apologizing to Nia for what she had endured.

”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.  

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. 

‘It was heartbreaking that everybody thought it was me,’ Nia told the Florida news station. ‘I wanted to hide.’

‘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,’ the accused girl’s lawyer, Marwan Porter, said in a statement Thursday. 

‘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.’