Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack told the a local newspaper that officers chased a stolen car Wednesday that went through two fences and a gate near Irrigon. It scraped up a steel pole that caused sparks and two brush fires.
After the car got stuck, the driver fled on foot and went into the Columbia.
Matlack says the man briefly tried to cross the river and then said he was tired and asked officers not to leave. They waded into chest-deep water to arrest him.
Deputies booked 20-year-old Zachary Lawrence Bartz on vehicle theft and other charges.
