MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa – Marshalltown’s chief of police says an accident involving a police vehicle that struck a four-year-old child earlier this month was “unavoidable.”

The Marshalltown Police Department has released dashcam video from the May 20th incident as well as security video from a nearby home. The dashcam video was taken from the police vehicle of Officer David Danielson, who was conducting a routine patrol in the area of Woodbury Street and North 12th Avenue around 6:21 p.m.

The video shows the police vehicle approaching an ice cream van parked on the right side of the road with people gathered near the sidewalk. As Officer Danielson drives slowly through the area, a child darts out from the front of the van and is hit by the police vehicle. WHO 13 has chosen to pause the video just before the impact.

Police say Officer Danielson immediately called for medical help and the child was transported to a local medical center for treatment of injuries to his right foot and lower leg.

“The video footage clearly depicts an unavoidable accident. Officer Danielson was carefully operating his police vehicle on May 20. What occurred is unfortunate but Officer Danielson did nothing wrong. It was an accident, pure and simple. Officer Danielson quickly stopped his vehicle and immediately summoned emergency medical care for the child. We continue to keep the child and his family in our prayers and we hope for a speedy recovery,” said Marshalltown Police Chief Michael Tupper.

The videos were released in an effort to be transparent about the incident, police say.

The investigation into the incident is continuing while analysis of the police vehicle’s black box data is done by the department and the Iowa State Patrol.