Two Good Samaritans have secured a nearly $100,000 settlement after they were exposed to a neurotoxin when they stopped to help a crashed semi-truck driver, then had to strip naked and get hosed down in freezing temperatures in the middle of Interstate 84.

Kortney Broecker and Shantelle Nay were traveling along I-84 in eastern Oregon near Durkee about 50 miles from the Idaho border when they encountered large pieces of metal in the road, according to their lawsuit filed in early December.

It was about 1 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2013, and the friends were worried that another driver might crash into the debris, so they stopped their car and got out to push the debris off the freeway, according to their attorney. That's when the pair noticed the overturned truck and trailer and discovered the driver bleeding and drifting in and out of consciousness.

The women had no idea that they were wading through as much as 4,000 gallons of tetramethylammonium hydroxide that had spilled along the 400-foot crash site, said Randy Oetken, their Milwaukie attorney.

They had called 911 and were told to stay put, Oetken said. They hadn't been told they were part of a hazmat scene or that the freeway had been shut down behind them and that's why emergency responders weren't coming, he said.

After waiting awhile, the women drove to the next exit for help and encountered emergency responders who ordered them to strip and so they could be doused with water, Oetken said.

"It's about traumatic as it gets," he said.

That's when the women began to realize they were suffering serious reactions to tetramethylammonium hydroxide, he said. The substance is used in the semiconductor industry to etch silicon and can be fatal to humans with direct contact with concentrated quantities.

Among the women's injuries, some of which continue to this day, according to the lawsuit: severe headaches, spontaneous vomiting, severe nausea, hair loss, eye pain, vision problems that included seeing flashes of light, shooting chest pains and constant wheezing and coughing spasms.

At the time of the lawsuit was filed, Broecker, 31, had accumulated $9,300 in medical expenses and $4,500 in lost income. Nay, 30, sought $4,300 in medical expenses. Both women also sought $200,000 each for emotional distress, pain and suffering.

Oregon State Police cited Ronald Glenn Hanes Sr. of Sacramento, Calif., with careless driving. Oetken said the driver told police that he'd taken his eyes off the road as he tried to find something on the floor of his cab. Hanes worked for LeSaint Chemical Logistics, a Texas-based company with offices in Portland.

The lawsuit was filed against Hanes and LeSaint Chemical Logistics in Multnomah County Circuit Court and settled in late December with the company, Oetken said.

Officials at the Oregon State Police, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality say they didn't cite the company for any wrongdoing.

A spokesperson from LeSaint didn't return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Broecker and Nay live in Idaho and were traveling back home after attending a convention in Hermiston. Two other people also were in the car, but they stayed inside during most of the incident and had little exposure.

All of the women's possessions, including their clothes and Broecker's 1997 Nissan Pathfinder, had to be incinerated because of the chemical exposure, Oetken said.

Read the lawsuit.

-- Aimee Green

503-294-5119