McDERMOTT — A mother and her young child were ejected from a moving vehicle and killed during a car accident Monday morning in McDermott.

According to Lt. Karla Taulbee, commander of the Portsmouth Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, David Harshberger Jr., 40, of McDermott drove his vehicle off the left side of the road and hit an embankment and overturned on Arion Road in McDermott at 8:15 a.m. Monday.

Harshberger’s girlfriend, 30-year old Samantha Tackett of McDermott, was a passenger inside the vehicle and she was holding their unidentified 2-year-old daughter on her lap. She was not wearing a seatbelt, and when the car crashed Tackett and the child were ejected from the side of the vehicle. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Taulbee said there was a child seat in the backseat of the car. Harshberger was also not wearing a seatbelt, but he was not injured.

Rush Township Fire Department responded to the scene of the crash along with the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Taulbee said they don’t know what caused Harshberger to drive off the road, and the crash remains under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and charges are pending.