The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. May 2, 2013 Florida Teen Charged, Expelled for Science Experiment Mishap ------------------------------------------------------------- A 16-year-old African-American Florida high school student has been arrested and expelled for a science experiment that went awry. Kiera Wilmot mixed together some household chemicals in a small water bottle, causing a reaction that produced some smoke. No one was wounded and no damage occurred. But police led Wilmot away in handcuffs and charged her with "possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device." The school district has since expelled her. She will now have to finish out her remaining high school years in a program for expelled students. Speaking to local news station WTSP, Wilmot's principal criticized her punishment. Ron Pritchard: "She's a good kid and she made a bad choice and stuff. She was not trying to be malicious, to harm anybody or destroy something in school or anything else." Although Wilmot is only 16, she will be tried as an adult. .