Houston Chronicle

Toddler dies, man arrested in police pursuit

- By Matt deGrood and John Wayne Ferguson

A 2-year-old girl died Monday after possibly being jostled around her father’s Camaro as he tried to flee police after he took the child from day care and allegedly assaulted the girl’s mother, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.

The child may have hit her head in the car during the chase, Gonzalez said. She was removed from the car by a SWAT team and given CPR until she she could be flown to a hospital, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez asked for prayers for the child’s survival during a 2 p.m. news conference. At 4 p.m., he announced that the girl had died.

The girl was recovered by police more than two hours after she was taken from her day care by a man believed to be her biological father, Gonzalez said.

The man went to the day care around 10:15 a.m., shortly after the girl had been dropped off by her mother, Gonzalez said. After that, the man drove to a nearby Walmart where he confronted the girl’s mother at work, and demanded to see her phone. During that confrontat­ion, the man struck the woman in the face and then fled the store with the girl, Gonzalez said.

Shortly after, police began searching for the man and the red Camaro he was driving. He was spotted near the intersecti­on of Greens Road and Interstate 45, and started to lead police from multiple agencies on a chase along Greens Road, the highway and Steubner Airline. The Camaro stopped in a field near St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, 14301 Stuebner Airline, about 7 miles from where the chase began.

Police initially treated the situation as a standoff, and a negotiator approached the car, where he learned the child had

been injured, Gonzalez said. About 12:40 p.m., an assault team then used a “distractio­n device” to approach the car and remove the man and the child, Gonzalez said. The man wasn’t injured and was taken to Harris County Jail. Charges against him weren’t immediatel­y announced, but Gonzalez said he expected at least one felony charge related to the girl’s injuries.

Deputies were still investigat­ing the crime scene on Monday afternoon as Gonzalez updated the media. It was unclear why the man took the child, and whether he had permission to do so, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said he believes the child wasn’t wearing a seat belt during the chase, and that she was “jumped around” and possibly hit her head. The girl wasn’t responsive when she was retrieved by police.

“It broke my heart to see her in that condition,” Gonzalez said.

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