(Trends Wide) — A Texas mother was charged with child endangerment after she allegedly placed her 13-year-old son, who had COVID-19, in the trunk of her car to avoid being exposed to the virus, according to a court order from the Texas Department of Justice. Harris County Prosecutor’s Office.
Sarah Beam, 41, was charged after authorities arrived at a Houston-area COVID-19 testing center on January 3 following a report that a health services official had found the minor. in the trunk of Beam’s car.
Sarah Beam told a health official that she was taking her son in for “additional testing,” according to a court order from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
According to the court order, the director of health services stated that she was collecting information from vehicles in a queue for covid testing when “she found a female driver, later identified as Sarah Beam, with her son in the trunk of her car.” .
The director of Health told the police that “the defendant confirmed that her son, KH, 13, was in the trunk of the car because the child had tested positive for covid.”
According to the court order, the mother told the Director of Health that she wanted to avoid being exposed to the virus while taking her son to the testing center for “additional tests”.
When the health official asked Beam to see the child, the mother opened the trunk where the “child was lying in the trunk.”
The mother was then told that the child would not be tested until she took him out of the trunk and into the back seat of the car. The health official called the police and returned to the car, where she found the child in the back seat.
Authorities were called to the COVID-19 testing center on January 3.
During the investigation, police reviewed surveillance cameras from an adjacent high school and confirmed that the boy “exited from the trunk and entered the back seat of the vehicle from the passenger side,” according to the court order.
The mother was released from jail Sunday on $1,500 bond, according to a document from the Harris County Prosecutor’s Office and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office website.
Beam is a teacher at Cypress Falls High School in the Cy-Fair Independent School District, according to Trends Wide affiliate KHOU.
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She was placed on administrative leave, KHOU reported.
Trends Wide has contacted Beam, but has not received a response. Trends Wide has not been able to confirm if she has an attorney. Trends Wide also contacted the Cy-Fair Independent School District for a statement.
