Former students defend Texas mother who put son in car trunk for Covid test

A number of people turned out in Texas Monday to show support for a mother who was charged with endangering a child after locking her 13-year-old son in the trunk of her car to take him for a Covid test.

Supporters, including former students, hung placards and letters of encouragement on the teacher’s home in Jersey Village, Texas, a suburb of Houston.

Sarah Beam, 41, had driven last week to Houston’s Pridgeon Stadium, where people can get tested without getting out of their car.

She told the site manager that she was there for her son, who had tested positive previously, and explained that she had put him in the trunk of her car so as not to risk being infected herself.

The site worker asked to see the teenager and then told her that no test could be done until he was in the back seat of the vehicle. She then alerted the police, who verified her story with surveillance cameras.

Last Saturday, Beam was arrested on suspicion of endangering a child. She was released the next day on US$1,500 bail.

On Monday, her former students came to her house to defend her, putting up messages of support.

One wrote she was “a real hero with no cape, an asset to the school and a blessing to the students,” while another said she was an “amazing teacher, a loving mother, and an empowering woman.”

Cardboard signs hanging from the windows of the house said “We stand with you always” and “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.

Beam is currently “on administrative leave,” her school announced.

Court officials have not yet announced when her case will be heard.