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Police take a pantsless suspect into custody after they said he crashed into a school bus and then attempted to enter the bus. He later crashed into a canal off I-5 near Creswell.

(Oregon State Police)

The suspect's vehicle wound up in a canal off Interstate 5 following a short pursuit.

Police say a man intentionally crashed into a school bus, took off his pants and attempted to enter the bus on Interstate 5 north of

Tuesday afternoon.

Lt. Gregg Hastings, a spokesman for the Oregon State Police, said that at 1:45 p.m. troopers responded to the northbound lanes of the freeway 5 miles north of Creswell on the report of a car that was stopped in front of school bus; the only person aboard the bus was a woman driver, Hastings said.

Witnesses told police the man driving the car appeared to have intentionally crashed into the bus before taking off his pants and trying to get inside. He then got back in the car and sped away.

A responding trooper spotted the suspect’s car—traveling north with two flat tires--and tried to pull it over. The driver kept going for a short distance before leaving the freeway, crashing through a fence and into a small body of water.

The car sank to its roofline, Hastings said, before the driver made it to shore where he was taken into custody.

Hastings said the man was checked by paramedics before he was transported to the Lane County Jail. Charges against the man are pending and additional details on the incident will be released later.

--Stuart Tomlinson