Alabama mother runs over 7-year-old son after making him walk home

Sarai Rachel James from Alabama has been charged with child abuse after she accidentally ran over her seven-year-old son, who had been walking home as a form of punishment, the Independent reported on Tuesday.

According to the Boaz police department, the boy had gotten into trouble in school and was called into the principal’s office, which prompted his mother to punish him.

After picking up the boy whose name has not been revealed, James stopped the car nearby and asked her son to walk back home, which was approximately eight blocks away.

As he walked ahead, James drove beside him for a few blocks, but as she slowed down, the boy tried to grab the door handle of the car and get in, to which James sped up and accidentally ran over him.

"It was a miracle he was not hurt worse than what he could have been," Boaz police department Chief Michael Abercrombie said.

The boy was brought to the University of Alabama Hospital, where he was being treated for abrasions on his back and the side of his head. He is now in stable condition, according to the police.

James has been charged with aggravated child abuse. She was released on a $50,000 bond and is reportedly forbidden from contacting her son.