A Houston teacher is under fire after authorities say she put her COVID-19-positive 13-year-old son in the trunk of her car to go to a testing site.
Sarah Beam, 41, pulled up to a drive-thru testing site near her home and told staff she wanted to get her 13-year-old son tested, but there was no kid in the car. When they asked where her son was, she popped the trunk and told them she had put him in there because was afraid to catch COVID-19 from him.
The teenager was not injured during the short trip from his home to the testing site, but Beam was charged with child endangerment.
On Friday, a judge found “no probable cause” to charge her with child endangerment, but the local police department says they are continuing the investigation.
Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Altmann says that there are better ways to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in cars, including wearing a mask, distancing as much as possible and rolling down the windows.
Beam’s students are rallying around her, saying what she did was just a lapse in judgment.