What began as a mother punishing her son left an Alabama woman barred from seeing her child.
On Feb. 9, Sarai Rachel James, 27, picked up her 7-year-old son from a school in Boaz, Alabama.
The principal at the school informed James that the child had gotten in trouble that day, according to the New York Post.
About eight blocks from home, the punishment kicked in. James stopped the car. The boy was told to get out of the car and either walk or run the rest of the way home.
As reported by the Miami Herald, the boy ran some of the way and walked at other times, with his mom either behind him or next to him with her flashers on, according to Police Chief Michael Abercrombie.
A few blocks into the punishment, the car slowed down.
When it did so, the boy reached for a door handle.
“She may not have realized he was doing that,” Abercrombie said, explaining that as James drove off, the boy was pulled under the vehicle.
The boy only suffered cuts on the side of his head and his back, but was taken to the University of Alabama hospital as a precaution.
“God watched over him,” Abercombie said.
Alabama mom Sarai James runs over 7-year-old son with car after forcing him to walk from school as punishment https://t.co/oLcXw57HW9
— True Crime Addict 🕵️♀️🤓 (@VelmaDinkley50) February 18, 2024
“It was a miracle he was not hurt worse than what he could have been,” Abercrombie said, according to AL.com.
James was charged with aggravated child abuse. After three days in jail, she was sprung on a $50,000 bond.
But there is no family reunion planned. Court documents forbid James from having any contact with her son.
A 53-year-old woman who was a passenger in the car was hit with a charge of endangering the welfare of a child and freed on a $500 bond, according to People.
Abercrombie said she was charged because she “didn’t intervene” when James decided on the boy’s punishment.
People reported that the Department of Human Resources now has custody of the boy.
