Girl Dies After Dad Removes Her From Daycare, Leads Police on Chase: Cops

A 2-year-old girl died after her father allegedly attacked her mother and became involved in a police chase that resulted in a standoff, according to Texas police.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), in north Houston, was alerted to reports of a family disturbance at about 10:15 a.m. on Monday.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the father, later identified as Deontray Flanagan, removed his daughter from a private daycare and fled to a nearby retail store where her mother worked. There, he confronted the mother and allegedly threatened to harm their child if she did not hand over her phone, Gonzalez said.

The mother attempted to rescue her daughter but was unsuccessful. The suspect allegedly hit the mother in the face several times before taking their daughter and the phone and driving away in a red Camero, news station ABC 6 reported.

In a series of social media updates, Gonzalez said the suspect led authorities on a chase, ultimately coming to a stop near a local church and sparking a standoff. The standoff lasted around 20 minutes before police moved in and removed the girl from the car, according to ABC 6.

Gonzalez said Flanagan was taken into custody and that the toddler was "seriously injured." She was taken by ambulance to a hospital but ultimately died hours later.

The sheriff wrote in a tweet on Monday evening: "Sad update, the toddler has been pronounced dead."

The toddler's cause of death is currently unknown, but Gonzalez said he believed it was possible she wasn't wearing a seatbelt and could have bounced around the car during the chase and hit her head.

Gonzalez added in a tweet that Flanagan "has been charged with murder and booked in the Harris County Jail."

Newsweek reached out to the HCSO for comment via email.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 2,212 homicides in Texas in 2020. When adjusted for the population, Texas had a death rate of 7.6 per every 100,000 people.

A 2019 report by the Children's Bureau and Child Welfare Information Gateway stated that hundreds of children died as a result of abuse or neglect that year. It stated that 1,840 children died in 2019, an increase on the 1,780 in 2018, which itself was a rise from 2017's 1,710.

But the report also noted that "many researchers and practitioners believe that child fatalities due to abuse and neglect are underreported."