CLACKAMAS, Ore. – The drivers of two vehicles struck by a man allegedly fleeing the scene of a bank robbery last week said it all happened very fast.

Police were trailing Mitchell Cooley when he sped onto I-205, lost control and then crashed into a minivan filled with kids and another car, then bounced into a semi-truck, investigators said.

Leiza Price was in the minivan. "He could have come right through the middle of the van and right into the van and probably would have killed most of us," she said.

"We just looked over and the car came crashing into us," added the other driver, Alyssa Arango.

Cooley is accused of robbing the Sterling Savings Bank, located on 14638 SE Sunnyside Road, at about 3 p.m. and then fleeing in the truck. And this wasn't the first time Cooley was in this kind of trouble. He had already been convicted of robbery 23 times before, police said.

Officers located Cooley at 132nd and Sunnyside Road and that's when they started pursuing him.

A police chase ensued and officers attempted a pit maneuver to stop the suspect. Instead, the out-of-control truck driven by the robbery suspect crossed all southbound lanes and the median.

The suspect crashed the truck into two vehicles in the northbound lanes -- including the minivan full of children -- before hitting a semi-truck, police said.

Slideshow: Wrong-way crash on I-205

Cooley and another driver were hospitalized with minor injuries, police said. Friends told KGW Cooley was a committed family man who just snapped for some reason. They said he had a troubled past, but seemed to be turning his life around.

After treatment at the hospital, Cooley was moved to the Clackamas County Jail.