8-Month-Old Child Falls out of Moving Vehicle, Struck by Car: Police

Police tape in a stock photo. Carl Ballou/Shutterstock

An 8-month-old Texas child died Sunday after falling out of a moving vehicle and was struck by another car, officials confirmed.

The Irving Police Department said it is investigating how the child fell out of the moving vehicle into the intersection of N. MacArthur Blvd. and Ranchview Dr. The vehicle was being driven by the infant’s mother, officials said.

Authorities are looking for a “possible black sedan” that struck the child and “continued without stopping,” according to the department. Investigators told WFAA there is a “high probability” that the driver of the sedan didn’t know that it struck the infant.

It’s not clear how the child fell out of the moving vehicle, authorities said. The infant was taken to a nearby hospital, where the child was later pronounced dead, they said.

Officials said that neither the child nor other children inside the vehicle were strapped into car seats when the child fell, Fox4 reported. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is looking into the matter.

A witness who saw the incident unfold “thought it was a baby doll falling out of the car,” Irving Police spokesman Robert Reeves told the Fox affiliate station. “They saw the other vehicle drive over the child. And that’s when they realized it was a child and the driver stopped.”

The mother of the child could be charged with child endangerment, Reeves said.

“There’s a range of potential charges she could be facing,” he noted.

Anyone who saw the incident should call the Irving Police Department at 972-721-2761.