Vehicle crashes into Fayette County childcare facility
A vehicle crashed through a daycare in Fayette County early Monday morning.
Emergency responders were called to Hopwood Child Care after a car smashed through the building.
Twenty-four children and seven staff members were in the building at the time of the incident, but no one was hurt.
Someone was dropping off their child for the day and hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.
Owner Jessica Barnhart said everyone inside the building was lucky not to be injured.
"[I] just heard a very loud noise. It sounded like a shelf fell," Barnhart said.
Barnhart was sitting in her office this morning when she heard that loud noise.
Panicked, she ran out of her office to see what was going on, never imagining she'd see a car inside her preschool classroom.
"My first thought was, 'Where's the kids?' Counting kids. We got them all? Good. Get out of here, go across the yard to a safe building."
Barnhart says there were only four students in the area when the car crashed with 20 students in nearby classrooms, including six teachers.
It was drop-off time, so children were starting to trickle in.
"Just pure luck. We had the storm last night and it just made people arrive slower today," Barnhart said. "If it wasn't for that, we would have been full with 20 kids in here at that time."
Repairs are underway to clean up the debris and replace the broken window.
Barnhart says you can never prepare for something like this and is thankful luck was on her side on Monday morning.
"Every single person walked away with no injuries. We're very very lucky. Even the building was hit in the right spot, so I got our guys here fixing it up. It wasn't hit in an area that made it un-structurally sound so we're very lucky for sure."
The damaged section of the daycare should be open in two to three days.
