Houston teacher Sarah Beam charged with felony: locked teen with COVID in trunk

A Houston teacher is facing a felony charge for putting her son in the trunk of her car has been identified as Sarah Beam.

UPDATED TO INCLUDE NEWS TALK CLIP – WATCH BELOW

Beam, 41, a 10th grade English teacher, now faces charges of felony child endangerment, after she confessed at a drive-through COVID-19 testing site she thought he might have been infected, and having him ride in the trunk was an effort to avoid exposure.

The boy, 13, was unrestrained in the trunk, was in fact, unharmed as the testing worker, identified as Bevin Gordon, told Beam to remove the child from the trunk and called 911.

“[The mother] stated that she put [her son] inside the trunk to prevent her from getting exposed to possible Covid while driving to the stadium for additional testing,” the court document said, citing remarks by Gordon.

Gordon called police.

The Cyprus-Fairbanks school district said police were “alerted that a child was in the trunk of a car at a drive-thru Covid-19 testing site earlier this week.

“Law enforcement conducted a full investigation, resulting in a warrant for arrest.”

“Thankfully, the child was not harmed,” the school district said.

The school district says she’s been employed there since 2011, most recently at Cypress Falls High School.

Sarah Beam

Charging documents show that, on Monday, Beam took her 13-year-old son to a coronavirus testing site unrestrained in the trunk of her car.

“That’s sick. That’s terrible. You don’t put anybody in a trunk,” said one parent, Scott Weaver.

Beam apparently told the district’s health director at the site that she was trying to keep herself from being exposed to the virus.

That person said they had the child taken out of the trunk and called 911.

“I don’t sympathize with that at all,” said another parent, Claud Green. “I would have all my children right in the front of my car. If I got it, I got it. If I didn’t, I didn’t. My kids come first.”

Many people called Beam’s actions bizarre, especially considering the fact that her career centers around children.

“She’s a teacher. I’d rip her license from her in five minutes,” Weaver said. “That’s not caring for children.”

The school district says she’s been employed there since 2011, most recently at Cypress Falls High School.

Beam is currently on leave from her job and wanted by deputies who left her Jersey Village home Friday night without making an arrest.

The teenager was not injured in the incident.

 

 

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