DALTON, Ga. — The Dalton Police Department is investigating after a four-year-old boy suffered broken bones in a leg and a laceration to a leg from being pinned between a car and a steel beam on Monday at a car wash.

The driver of the vehicle involved is the boy’s father, Jalen Storey, 24, of Dalton. Chris Crossen, Dalton Police Department assistant chief, said the incident happened around 5:20 p.m. at the GooGoo Express Wash at 1234 N. Glenwood Ave.

The boy was taken by ambulance to Hamilton Medical Center and then flown to Children’s Hospital at Erlanger in Chattanooga.

According to information from the police department, Storey was using the vacuums at the car wash to clean the inside of his car. The boy was outside of the car.

Storey “told investigators that he decided to move his car forward in the parking space to allow the vacuum hose to reach further into his vehicle, and he told investigators that while he was moving forward his foot slipped and wedged on the case pedal, causing the car to lurch forward and jump over the concrete stop block and hit his son, pinning him against a steel support beam for the car wash’s roof,” information from the police department said.

Dalton Police Chief Cliff Cason called it a “tragic accident” during the city’s Public Safety Commission meeting Tuesday morning.

“The child was at the car wash with a parent … When they went to move the vehicle to position it to vacuum the child stepped off to the side near the vacuum,” Cason said. “When the vehicle moved (the child) ended up being pinned against the vehicle and post … . We pray for his recovery and well-being.”

The incident is being investigated by the police department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit. No charges have been filed, but are possible pending the outcome of the investigation.