A 42-year-old woman has been charged with careless driving after a car crashed through the window of an east Ottawa restaurant on Saturday, sending three people to hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency crews were called to the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at 2000 Montreal Rd., near Ogilvie Road, at around 7:30 p.m.

One adult and two children were taken to hospital with scrapes, cuts and other minor injuries, Ottawa paramedics told CBC News.

A 13-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy were taken to the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, while a 37-year-old man was taken to The Ottawa Hospital's General campus.

Ottawa police spokesman Const. Marc Soucy said the woman charged with careless driving is alleged to have lost control of the car after mixing up the pedals.

A car went though the window of the Beacon Hill Popeyes last night. Manager says they hope to reopen this afternoon. <a href="https://t.co/heWIoCnCEX">pic.twitter.com/heWIoCnCEX</a> —@amkfoote

Injured people were sitting near window

All three people taken to hospital were sitting at a table a few feet away from where the car, a red sedan, came to a stop inside the restaurant, said Lianne Shaver, a superintendent of operations for Ottawa paramedics.

A fourth restaurant patron, a 26-year-old woman, was treated at the scene, Shaver said.

"There [were] quite a few people who were shaken by [the crash], a lot of people finding themselves very lucky that they hadn't decided to sit in the window," she said.

"That goes for all the patrons of the restaurant at the time, including the staff members."

First responders offered the driver of the sedan medical treatment, but it was refused, Shaver said.

'Not that busy, thankfully'

Restaurant manager Mohammad Omar said he was at another store when he got a call from his employees about the collision, and he was at the restaurant within five minutes.

Plastic sheeting covers up the front window of the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen on Montreal Road after a car smashed into the restaurant Saturday night. (Andrew Foote/CBC)

"I just saw [a complete] mess. Everything was here and there. The store was full of glass, people were running here and there," Omar said.

"It was not that busy, thankfully. Usually Saturdays are really busy, but yesterday was a little bit quiet."

Omar said he had expected the restaurant would reopen around noon Sunday.