An arrest warrant has been issued for a Houston-area mother after she allegedly put her child in the trunk of her car because she thought the child had COVID-19.
“According to the DA’s office, Sarah Beam, 42, was at a COVID-19 testing site at Pridgeon Stadium on Falcon Rd on January 3 when officials were alerted her teenage child, 13, was in her car’s trunk,” Fox 26 reported. “According to charging documents, Beam said her child was in the trunk because they had previously tested positive for COVID-19 and as a result, wanted to ‘prevent her[self] from getting exposed to possible COVID while driving [the child] to the stadium for additional testing.’”
School officials with Cy-Fair ISD confirmed to the news station that “Beam most recently worked as a teacher in CFISD and is currently on administrative leave.”
Beam has been charged with child endangerment, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
“Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Director of Health Services Bevin Gordon alerted police of the boy in the trunk after interacting with Beam, 42, at the Pridgeon Stadium testing site on Falcon Rd on January 3,” the report added. “Gordon told police that she witnessed Beam unlatch the trunk and found the 13-year-old was face down inside.”
Gordon also reportedly told Beam that she “would not be receiving COVID testing until the child would be removed from the trunk of the vehicle and place[d] in the back seat of the vehicle.”
Gordon then left to call Cy-Fair ISD police, but when she returned the teen was in the backseat.
Fox 26 reported that surveillance footage from a nearby school “showed the moment the child, who was reportedly unharmed, get out of the trunk and get in the passenger-side backseat of the car.”