Mother isolates from COVID-positive teen son by putting him in car trunk

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Health officials working at a COVID-19 testing site in Texas were shocked earlier this month when they learned a mother had delivered her 13-year-old son to the facility in the trunk of her car. 

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Forty-one-year-old Sarah Beam was allegedly attempting to isolate from her son, believed to be infected with the COVID-19 virus, by locking him in the vehicle’s trunk, when officials approached the car to get information about those inside. 

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Mother isolates from COVID-positive teen son by putting him in car trunk Back to video

A health director told police, “the defendant confirmed that her son, K.H., who is a 13-year-old child, was in the trunk of the car due (to) the child having been tested positive for COVID.” Beam popped the trunk for the official, who was able to see the child lying down inside the windowless storage compartment. 

The youngster was then removed from the trunk and allowed into the back seat, but not before police had been called. 

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Beam, a teacher at Cypress Falls High School, has been charged with endangering a child and has been placed on administrative leave, according to KHOU.com . She was recently released from custody on a US$1,500 bond. 

It should go without saying, but the inherent risks of riding in a trunk (e.g. death or serious injury in the event of a collision) far outweigh the potential risk of exposure to COVID-19.

“I have never heard of somebody being put in a trunk because they tested positive for anything,” Sgt. Richard Standifer with the Texas Department of Public Safety told KHOU. “In the event that the vehicle is in a crash, there’s no way to really secure a person in a trunk.”