A Coast Guard crew rescued a man from his vehicle Friday night after it plunged into the Multnomah Channel just north of the Sauvie Island Bridge.

The driver, who was not identified in a news release, told rescuers he blacked out before his gray 2016 Mercedes-Benz C300 entered the water.

When he regained consciousness, he used the vehicle's built-in communication tool to contact Mercedes-Benz customer service representatives. He also bashed out the sedan's rear window to escape the car before rescuers arrived.

At 10:06 p.m., Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications dispatchers contacted the Coast Guard Sector Columbia River in Astoria about the car in the channel.

At 10:33 p.m., a 29-Foot Response Boat-Small II crew from Coast Guard Station Portland arrived.

The crew "located the driver who was now in the water outside of the vehicle and clinging to it," the news release says.

The crew pulled the man from the water and brought him to an ambulance at Rocky Point Marina, north of the rescue scene, at 10:44 p.m. He was brought to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center for treatment of his hands, injured during the escape from the car, and hypothermia symptoms.

"Weather on scene was 38 degrees F, mostly cloudy with isolated showers, 10-mile visibility, with calm winds and seas," the news release concludes.

--Allan Brettman

abrettman@oregonian.com

503-294-5900

@allanbrettman

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.