The article alludes to alleged past problems with the vehicle, which indicates to me that this child may have been late for school more often than just this one time. I do agree that this child is very young and thus, not responsible for his tardiness. If this was a recurring problem, the school should have dealt with the mother.
As usual, the news story in question omits certain potentially important facts. There appears to be more to the story than punishment of a child for being one minute late one time.
I have read four different articles related to this. The child had been tardy 6 times since the beginning of the school year. Although past car trouble is alluded to, it is never directly implicated in this occurrence. The school never actually provides any details on the incident since they are precluded by law from doing so.