Police: A young girl died in a car accident when her mother lost consciousness

Morgan Ottinger and Cameron Link from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office are shown in the leftmost and center insets, respectively. The background of the image is the driveway of a trailer park near Houston, Texas, where Ottinger’s daughter was tragically hit and killed by a vehicle (KTRK/YouTube).

A mother and her boyfriend are behind bars after her 18-month-old daughter was hit and killed by a vehicle, authorities say.

The heartbreaking incident took place on a Saturday in Harris County, Texas, as shared by Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on X (previously known as Twitter). Sheriff Gonzalez reported that Morgan Ottinger, a 31-year-old mother, was with her 18-month-old daughter, Cora, inside a vehicle parked in the driveway of their trailer in Tomball, situated near Houston. At a certain point, Ottinger either “passed out” or fell asleep while in the vehicle, as indicated by Gonzalez.

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The young girl had exited the vehicle and was positioned close to it when Cameron Link, the 41-year-old boyfriend of the mother, arrived in his car and unintentionally hit the child, as detailed by Sheriff Gonzalez. Despite the quick response of paramedics at the scene, they were unable to save the girl’s life, and she was tragically pronounced dead on the spot. While Sheriff Gonzalez mentioned that there was a “delay” in contacting 911 by the individuals involved, he did not provide further details on this matter.

Now Ottinger stands accused of child endangerment with serious bodily injury. Link had warrants out for his arrest on unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and theft and he was taken into custody. Gonzalez said Link showed no signs of impairment when he struck Cora.