Women face charges after boy forced out of car, then struck by rear tire

BOAZ, Ala. — Two women in northeastern Alabama are facing charges after a child was forced out of a vehicle and told to walk home, then was run over by the car when he tried to grab the door handle, authorities said.

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Sarai James, 27, of Boaz, was arrested on Feb. 8 and charged with aggravated child abuse, according to Marshall County Sheriff’s Office online booking records. Carla Mae Owens, 53, was also arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, according to The Sand Mountain Reporter.

Police said that on Feb. 8, James picked up her 7-year-old son from school and learned from the principal that he had gotten in trouble that day, AL.com reported.

Investigators said that a “short distance” from the school, James stopped her vehicle and told her son to get out, according to the news outlet. Police said James allegedly told her son that as punishment, he either had to walk or run the approximately eight blocks to their home, WAAY-TV reported.

Boaz police Chief Michael Abercrombie said the boy attempted to grab the vehicle’s door handle, but James allegedly accelerated and drove away, according to The Sand Mountain Reporter. The boy was pulled under the vehicle and run over by the rear tire, the newspaper reported.

The boy was transported to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, according to WAAY.

“The child suffered only abrasions,” Abercrombie told The Sand Mountain Reporter. “It is a miracle he was not hurt worse than what he was.”

James was booked into the Marshall County Jail, online booking records show. She was released on Feb. 11 after posting $50,000 bail, according to the newspaper. Owens was taken to the Boaz City Jail, where she posted a $500 property bond and was released, Abercrombie said.

According to court documents, James cannot have any contact with her son, AL.com reported.

Boaz is located about 74 miles northeast of Birmingham.

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