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ATTLEBORO - Pleasant Street Optical owner Fred Alfred says he was 30 seconds away from witnessing a tragedy.

A black Lexus drove through the front entrance and waiting-room window of the medical building at 174 Pleasant St.

And Alfred said that just 30 seconds before the crash, reported at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday, three of his patients - a grandmother, mother and a young child - were in that hallway, which houses two eyeglass display cases.

They had just sat down with him to get their lenses.

"If it wasn't just 30 seconds, there would've been a lot of people hurt," Alfred said. The driver of the car, Mary Certuse of Mansfield, was not injured, fire officials said. Police cited her in connection with the accident.

Alfred said Certuse is an elderly patient of one of the eye doctors with offices in the building, although police declined to give her age.

Certuse was pulling into the parking lot and intended to park, but instead hit the gas, he said.

A similar crash occurred about a year ago.

Alfred said Wednesday's incident was the third crash over the past eight years.

"I've gotten a little shell-shocked after three," he said.

Opthamolic technician Sandra Henriques said her boss was seeing patients, when "we heard a loud bang."

"People were screaming," she said. "Somebody called 911."

Henriques said the frequency of the crashes is "a little scary."

"You never know when someone's going to come driving through the building," she said. "I"m just glad she's OK. I'm just happy she's OK," Henriques said of the driver.

Alfred said he understands why the crashes happen.

"It's called age - aging drivers and an aging population. We're going to see more of this," he said.

Building and electrical inspectors were called to the scene, fire officials said.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.