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WHAS11 coverage

(WHAS11) - Eleven people were injured when a car crashed into a methadone clinic in Clark County.

The crash happened at about 9:30 a.m. Friday morning and involved a clinic patient, who was coming for a dose of methadone, a high-powered narcotic used to treat people addicted to heroin and prescription medications.

This is something that people in the community have said they have been expecting to happen even it is unknown at this time whether the drug the woman was taking at the clinic played any part in the accident.

Because of the huge volume of patients who come to the clinic everyday, it was lucky that more people were not seriously hurt.

The crash happened in a split second as a patient with a small child arrived at this methadone clinic for her daily treatment.

The driver says that she thought she was hitting the brake but accidentally hit the gas and ran into the building.

The minivan plowed through glass windows, hitting waiting patients.

Eleven people in total were hurt; including four people seriously injured who were rushed to area hospitals.

Since the woman was a patient at the drug treatment center, law enforcement officials are looking into whether impairment contributed to the crash.

Clinic program director Vicki Friel says drugs played no role into today’s crash.

“There was absolutely nothing in this woman’s system,” she says.

The crash comes about a month after legislators passed a new law placing more stringent restrictions on methadone clinics.

The laws came about after the public expressed concerns over safety issues posed by patients taking methadone and then driving.

Back in the summer WHAS11 News observed some patients driving erratically from the clinic, often with children in the car.

James Crawford knows from experience how methadone treatments can affect him.

“Sometimes I have to pull over and go to sleep for a little while in the car,” he says.

As for the hundreds of patients that travel back and forth from Kentucky, Crawford says he hopes they all pull over too when the methadone kicks in.

The results from the driver’s blood test are not yet in and so far, she has not been charged with anything.

None of the injuries were life threatening, even at least two of the patients are believed to have broken bones.