Mom put teenage son with COVID in trunk for drive-thru testing, Texas officials say

A 13-year-old boy was found in the trunk of his mom’s car when she took him to get a COVID-19 test at a drive-thru site in Texas, authorities said.

The woman had taken her son, who had recently tested positive for COVID-19, to the site at Ken Pridgeon Stadium in Houston on Monday, Jan. 3, according to a probable cause statement from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Ken Pridgeon Stadium is a Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District facility.

While in line, the mom told the school district’s health service director that she drove to the stadium with her son in the trunk as she didn’t want to be exposed to the coronavirus while taking him to get additional testing, according to the statement. The director working the line then asked to see the child, and the mom unlatched the trunk. The teenager was found “lying down in the trunk.”

The health service director told the mother that her child would not be tested until he was placed in the back seat of the vehicle, records show. The director then left to call police, and when she returned the son was in the back seat.

In a statement provided to McClatchy News, the Cypress-Fairbanks school district said its police department conducted an investigation after being alerted to the child in the trunk.

A review of school security surveillance cameras captured the moment the teen moved from the trunk to the back seat, according to the probable cause statement.

Police have since issued a warrant for the woman’s arrest, according to the district.

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

The district attorney’s office says the woman faces a felony charge of endangering a child.

This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Mom put teenage son with COVID in trunk for drive-thru testing, Texas officials say."