LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- An out-of-control SUV raced up a Lake Avenue apartment driveway, crashed through a fence and splashed into an Edgewater Drive swimming pool late Saturday afternoon, narrowly missing swimmers at a party in and around the water.

"She literally crashed the party," Fire Chief Scott Gilman said.

The unidentified woman driving the Jeep Liberty was taken to Lakewood Hospital with injuries described as minor. There were no passengers.

Several people at the party were struck by debris and received minor injuries, witnesses said. A bumper, mirror, grill and other pieces of the vehicle crashed poolside, doing more damage.

Trent Wilson, owner of the property on Edgewater Drive near West 117th Street, said the party ironically marked the opening of his pool for the season after several weeks of work.

"I'm just glad no one got badly hurt," he said.

Witnesses and emergency workers said the westbound Jeep hit a car on Lake Avenue shortly after 6 p.m. before rolling up a driveway and busting through the wooden fence at the rear of the property.

Christopher Sanford, 27, of Cleveland, one of several dozen pool party guests, said he had just jumped into the pool.

"I hit the water and heard an explosion," he said. "I turned around and there's a Jeep in the pool."

He said he pulled aside the driver's seat belt and hauled her through the open window onto the pool deck. He said the woman was struggling for air "and kept saying her brakes were bad."

Another guest, John Justice of North Olmsted, checked to see if anyone else was in the vehicle.

He said people earlier had "spent about 80 percent of the time at this end of the pool," where the Jeep landed. It was on course for deck furniture and a grill where guests clustered.

"If there wasn't a pool here, there'd be bodies," Wilson said. "I'm lucky to be alive."

A crane hoisted the vehicle out of the water Saturday evening after the job proved too much for a tow truck.