Ore. woman sets herself on fire, crashes car, jumps off bridge — and survives

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon woman who set herself on fire while driving, crashed her car on an interstate and then jumped off a highway bridge to a park below, survived the ordeal and was being treated at Portland area hospital, police said on Friday.

Another driver reported in an emergency call to police that the woman was driving recklessly on Interstate 105 and hit a median before crashing near an exit in Eugene on Thursday, about 110 miles south of Portland, according to the Eugene Police Department.

The 39-year-old woman then, still on fire, got out of her car and jumped off the interstate highway bridge, despite nearby witnesses’ attempt to intervene, police said.

The Eugene Register Guard, a local newspaper, reported she also began stripping off her burning clothes before she fell some 40 feet (12 meters), though police would not confirm that.

The woman did not have life-threatening injuries, but no further information about her condition or location was available, police said, adding they believed she was trying to end her life.

A 40-year-old woman, who happened to be in the park below the interstate, was struck by cascading debris from the woman’s crash but was not seriously injured and was released from an area hospital after an evaluation, police said.