UPDATED Tuesday, Feb. 19: The driver of the car, 23-year-old Jeremiah Libbee of Hillsboro, has been discharged from a hospital and booked into the Washington County Jail, authorities said. He is accused of third-degree assault, attempt to elude, reckless endangering and driving while suspended.

Authorities said on Monday that the passenger who was rescued from the car, a 21-year-old Gaston woman, remains at a Portland hospital and is stable. They said the woman is considered a victim in the case, which remains under investigation.

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A driver fled police, lost control of a car and crashed into a creek Friday morning in Washington County.

The driver was discovered downstream, helped ashore and taken to a hospital, an official said. But a passenger remained stuck in the crashed car, which was in the middle of Gales Creek along Oregon 6, and required a rescue.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said North Plains police initially chased the driver, who fled on the highway that runs from U.S. 26 to U.S. 101. The driver left the highway near a rural Shell gas station, took out an oak tree and went down a steep embankment and into the creek, said Forest Grove Fire & Rescue spokesman Matt Johnston.

Johnston said the passenger, a woman, was submerged up to about her waist.

Water rescuers went out to her and made sure she was OK, Johnston said. She was trapped and couldn’t exit the car.

Three tow trucks then pulled the car up a steep embankment and back onto the highway, Johnston said, and firefighters extracted her from the car.

Johnston said the woman was partially submerged in the the water, which is cold runoff from snow in the Coast Range, for at least a half-hour.

He suspected she has hypothermia but didn’t know the extent of any other injuries.

Johnston said she was conscious and alert the whole time and was taken to a trauma hospital.

“Time was really of the essence to try to get her out,” he said.

Kellon Obrist, a truck driver from Tillamook, saw the crash unfold.

He told The Oregonian/OregonLive he was hauling lumber to Portland from the coastal city when a couple friends who were also hauling lumber told him over the radio that a high-speed chase was coming his way.

Obrist said he started to slow down and that his instinct was to cross the center line and cut off the car. But he saw the driver lose control and decided not to cut off the car.

A law enforcement officer put spike strips across the highway, Obrist said, and the driver either hit or avoided the spikes, lost control and went into the creek.

Obrist said he jumped out of his truck and went over to the embankment. Someone else asked the woman in the car if she was trapped. She was screaming for help at the top of her lungs, Obrist said.

Obrist asked if anyone else was with her, and she said there wasn’t. He left and made it to Portland later Friday morning.

The highway had reopened by about 11:20 a.m., according to the sheriff’s office.

It wasn’t immediately clear what spurred the chase.

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

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