An Alabama mother has been charged with child abuse after she accidentally ran over her 7-year-old son while walking him home from school as punishment, according to the Boaz Police Department.
According to police, the incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on February 9, when Sarai Rachel James, 27, was picking up her son from school in Boaz, Alabama.
Police said James was told her son had been sent to the principal’s office because he had been in trouble earlier that day.
As punishment, James stopped the car not far from the school and had her son get out of the car and walk or run the rest of the way home, about eight blocks away, police said.
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Boaz police say a mother punished her 7-year-old son by making him walk home before accidentally running him over. (Marshall County Jail)
According to the Miami Herald, James drove next to her son for several blocks while he was walking, but when she slowed down, her son tried to grab her car’s door handle. .
Boaz Police Chief Michael Abercrombie said when James accelerated, his son was pinned under the car and hit by the rear wheel.
Investigators told the Miami Herald they believe the incident was an accident, but Abercrombie said the boy would never have been in that situation if he hadn’t been punished.
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“She may not have known he was doing that,” Abercrombie said. “God was watching over him.”
Police said the boy was in stable condition and was taken to the University of Alabama Hospital where he was treated for abrasions to his back and side of the head.
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James was later charged with aggravated child abuse and released on $50,000 bail three days after his arrest, according to Marshall County Jail records.
Fox News Digital has contacted the Boaz Police Department for more information.
