CARVID-19

Mom Charged for Stuffing Her COVID-Positive Teen Son in Her Trunk to Get Tested

Staff at the COVID-19 testing site said she couldn’t get tested until she let her son out of the trunk.

A mom in Houston took a novel route to limiting her exposure to her son with COVID-19 this week: she made him ride in her trunk on the way to a testing site, police said. Sarah Beam, 41, allegedly put her 13-year-old in the trunk of her car when she drove to a testing site in a high school football stadium. He had tested positive already, but she wanted to confirm with a second test and determine if she herself was positive while also avoiding exposure. Staff at the testing site told her she couldn’t be tested until she released the teenager. It’s unclear if she ever got the swab, though, because authorities intervened, and the teenager moved to the backseat. Beam has been charged with felony child endangerment.