A vehicle that was involved in a high speed pursuit crashed into Gales Creek in western Washington County. It happened on Highway 6 near Gales Creek Road.
North Plains Police say their officer saw a car driving recklessly at a high rate of speed on Highway 26 westbound near Glencoe Road. The officer tried to pull the car over but the driver, later identified as 23-year-old Jeremiah Libbee of Hillsboro, did not stop. The pursuit went from Highway 26 and then west on Highway 6.
Near the intersection of Highway 6 and Gales Creek Rd., a Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputy set up spike strips. The deputy saw Libbee was sideways in the on-coming lane of traffic at a high rate of speed. The deputy was attempting to remove the spike strips from Libbee’s path, because the car was out of control, but Libbee drove over the spike strips before the deputy could get out of his way and crashed into the river.
Libbee was able to get out of the vehicle by himself. The female passenger was trapped in the partially flooded car.
The river temperature was 43 degrees. The water was too deep and moving too fast for firefighters to extricate the woman from the vehicle, so it was towed out of the water. Multiple tow trucks were needed.
It took an hour to get the vehicle out of the river, up the bank and onto the highway. It took firefighters another 20 minutes to remove the roof and get the woman out of the car. She was hospitalized with critical injuries. Libbee was also hospitalized. He had a previous warrant.