One day he roved on the sea-coast by the side of that asylum. Indeed, Surya's son, armed with bow and sword, wandered alone, While thus employed, O Partha, he inadvertently slew, without witting it, the Homa cow of a certain utterer of Brahma who daily performed his Agnihotra rite. Knowing that he had perpetrated that act from inadvertence, he informed the Brahmana of it. Indeed Karna, for the object of gratifying the owner, repeatedly said, 'O holy one, I have killed this thy cow without wilting it. Forgive me the act!' Filled with wrath, the Brahmana, rebuking him, said these words, 'O thou of wicked conduct, thou deservest to be killed. Let the fruit of this act be thine, O thou of wicked soul. While fighting him, O wretch whom thou always challengest, and for whose sake thou strivest so much every day, the earth shall swallow the wheel of thy car! And while the wheel of thy car shall thus be swallowed up by the earth, thy foe, putting forth his prowess, will cut off thy head, thyself being stupefied the while! Leave me, O vile man! As thou hast heedlessly slain this my cow, even so wilt thy foe cut off thy head while thou shalt be heedless!' Though cursed, Karna still sought to gratify that foremost of Brahmanas by offering him kine and wealth and gems. The latter, however, once more answered him, 'All the words will not succeed in falsifying the words spoken by me! Go hence or remain, do whatever thou likest.' Thus addressed by the Brahmana, Karna, hanging down his head from cheerlessness, returned timidly to Rama, reflecting on that matter.'
Source: https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12a002.htm
This incident occured when Karna was learning under the tutelage of Bhārgava Rāma to acquire Brahmāstra.
Basically, Karna accidentally kills the cow of a Brahmana while the latter was performing his daily Agnihotra --> Karna duly informs the Brahmana of what he had committed hoping that the latter would forgive him for he had slain the cow unknowingly --> enraged after learning what had happened to his cow from Karna's mouth, the Brahmana cursed him to die in the battlefield at the hands of his enemy, the moment when the wheel of his chariot sinks into the earth.
Jai Shriman Narayana!
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