US Woman Locked COVID Positive Son Inside Car Trunk To Avoid Getting Infected, Charged
A Houston mother was charged after authorities allege she locked her 13-year-old son in the trunk of her car in an attempt to isolate him after he had tested positive for COVID-19 and then took him to a drive-thru testing site.
The 41-year-old is charged with endangering a child. Authorities allege her son was found on Monday in her car¡¯s trunk at a testing site for the Cypress-Fairbanks school district in northwest Houston. The woman is a teacher with the district, which said in a statement that the child was not harmed.
How did they find the teen?
The school district¡¯s director of health services, Bevin Gordon, was gathering information from vehicles that were in line for COVID-19 testing at a district stadium on Monday when she discovered that the child was in the trunk of a car, according to a court document.
The witness, however, called police after she heard someone in the vehicle's trunk on 3 January at the site in Harris County, Texas, according to click2Houston.com.Sarah Beam, 41, reportedly opened the boot to reveal the boy lying inside.
Beam said she was taking her teenager son to the Pridgeon Stadium location for another test to confirm the result, according to local media.?She reportedly also said she had placed the teenager in the car boot because she did not want to be infected herself.
A health worker told her there would be no coronavirus test until the boy was allowed to sit in the back seat of the car, reports ABC affiliate KTRK-TV.
Beam has been working as a teacher at Cypress Falls High School since 2011, but is now on administrative leave, according to local media.
What did the police department said?
Cy-Fair ISD Police Department said: "CFPD was alerted that a child was in the trunk of a car at a drive-thru Covid-19 testing site earlier this week. Law enforcement conducted a full investigation, resulting in a warrant for arrest. Thankfully, the child was not harmed."
Sgt Richard Standifer, of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told local TV station KHOU 11 that the boy could have been seriously hurt if the vehicle had ended up in a collision."I have never heard of somebody being put in a trunk because they tested positive for anything," said Sgt Standifer.
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