Man accused of death of child after chase, standoff with deputies
A man was charged with the death of a 2-year-old girl Monday during a police chase after he allegedly assaulted the girl’s mother and took the girl away from daycare, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
Deontray Flanagan, 25, was incarcerated in the Harris County Jail and charged with murder, hours after the chase that led to the girl’s death, Gonzalez said. It appeared that the little girl was not strapped in properly during the chase and she may have hit her head in Flanagan’s Camaro.
Police recovered the girl more than two hours after she was taken from her daycare by a man believed to be her biological father, Gonzalez said. A SWAT team removed her from the car and gave her CPR until she was transported to the hospital.
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Flanagan is alleged to have gone to a day care center around 10:15 am, where the girl’s mother had left her earlier, Gonzalez said. The man is then accused of driving to a nearby Walmart and confronting his mother at work, demanding to see her phone. During the argument, Flanagan is accused of hitting the woman in the face and running off with the baby.
Detectives began working to find the man shortly thereafter. Detectives located his red Camaro near the intersection of Greens Road and Interstate 45, and officers began following him in a chase along Greens Road, the highway, and Steubner Airline Road. The Camaro eventually stopped in a field near St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, 14301 Steubner Airline Rd., 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. At about 12:40, an assault team was able to approach the car and remove the man and child, Gonzalez said.
