LEWISTON — While driving on Pine Street on Thursday afternoon, mayoral candidate Mark Cayer struck a woman walking in a marked crosswalk.

A police report on the 1:42 p.m. crash found that Cayer was distracted but not speeding.

He said Julianne Dawson, 25, of Lewiston injured her elbows and suffered some whiplash when she hit the windshield of his van. She was taken to a hospital, treated and released, he said.

Dawson said she is pregnant.

Cayer, also of Lewiston, said he was driving at or below the speed limit because there was a person on a three-wheel scooter and a bicyclist on his right he kept an eye on as he approached, and firetrucks nearby doing training.

“With my focus on my right,” he said, he didn’t see the woman enter the crosswalk on the left. When he looked back to his left he saw her in the crosswalk too late to avoid hitting her, he said. The impact damaged his windshield, he said.

Dawson said she saw him coming and thought he had plenty of time to stop, but when she looked up again “he hit me.”

Cayer said Friday that he stopped immediately and rushed to help, but others were already at her side so he called 911 immediately.

He said he met with her Friday morning to apologize.

“I just feel terrible for her,” Cayer said, “but it was an accident.”

Dawson said she accepted his apology and called it an accident.

Cayer said he received a $180 ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian. He said he won’t contest it.

In a Friday post on his campaign’s Facebook page, Cayer said it was “important for me to share this with the community.”

That disclosure was the first news of the accident.

Cayer faces Tim Lajoie and Charles Soule in the mayoral race. He said he doesn’t think the accident will impact the race.