1:50
- ABC News
- March 27, 2019
Officers forcibly remove feverish child from home
The mother had taken the child to a naturopathy doctor with a 105-degree fever.
The parents were not arrested at the time of the incident. Investigators will later determine whether to pursue criminal charges against them, according to the police statement.
All three children are currently staying with their grandparents, who were granted temporary custody by DCS, their mother, Sarah Beck, told ABC News. The parents are hoping to regain custody after a hearing next month, Beck said.
In a statement to ABC News, Arizona DCS said it could not comment on the specifics of the case due to privacy laws, but said the removal of the child followed a state law passed in 2017 that requires DCS specialists to obtain a court order prior to removing a child from a home. The law was amended last year to give law enforcement agencies who assist DCS to \"use reasonable force to enter any building in which the person named in the removal authorization is reasonably believed to be,\" according to DCS.
Arizona House Rep. Kelly Townsend, who played a large role in getting the law passed, told KNXV that she believes the removal of the children was \"an abuse of power\" by DCS and law enforcement.
\"I think we need to re-think where we draw the line when it comes to disagreements between doctors and parents and what level we’re going to go to to keep the child safe,\" Townsend said.
Townsend defended the parents, saying that since the child's fever had died down, they \"felt it was no longer at the level that warranted an intrusive test that could be danger.\"
Beck's attorney, Nicholas Boca, said in a statement to ABC News that he believes the use of force by authorities was excessive and \"should be reserved for violent criminals, not a house filled with young, sleeping children.\"
\"The removal of Sarah Beck’s Children by busting in her door with guns drawn in the middle of the night was clearly unnecessary and well beyond 'reasonable force,'\" the statement read.
Boca described Beck as a \"loving and attentive\" mother who has always cared for her children \"appropriately.\"
\"Sarah has a fundamental, Constitutionally protected right to the care, custody, and management of her Children,\" the statement read. \"These rights do not evaporate simply because the Department of Child Safety believes they know better.\"
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