“…asking anyone who lives in the area east of the North Thompson River to keep their eyes out for the suspect, who will undoubtedly still be wet and cold.”

Kamloops RCMP Staff Sergeant Janelle Shoihet as part of an appeal for information issued late Friday morning about an earlier theft from a local pub which eventually led them on to the turbulent waters of the North Thompson Friday morning.

The Mounties were called out to the Westsyder Pub in the 33-hundred block of Westsyde Road at around 3:30am to a report that someone had broken into the Pub and had made off with an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

“The suspects fled in what was later determined to be a stolen truck,” said the RCMP in a release.

Sometime later on in the morning, police were able to track down the stolen vehicle and the ATM.

Then, using the services of a police dog, two suspects were eventually tracked a further distance south along Westsyde Road.

Apparently realizing they were being tracked by the K9 team — and possibly as a way to throw the dog off their scent — the duo then took off to the east and eventually threw themselves into the North Thompson across from the CN Rail Yard to allegedly avoid capture.

“One male was arrested shortly after,” said Shoihet, who heads one of the Watch shifts with Kamloops RCMP.  “However, a second suspect swam across the river and remains outstanding.”

The Mounties were able to obtain a picture of the suspect using a camera with high-quality resolution as he was seen making his alleged swim to freedom.

“By the time we got to the River, he was too far from the shore and it was not safe for officers to jump into the water to pursue,” Shoihet told Radio NL in a follow-up query as to how the Mounties were able to obtain a picture of the suspect in the water.  “By the time we got there with the boat, he was already out of the River.”

RCMP say the suspects found their way into the fast-flowing waters of the North Thompson more than half a kilometer north of the Halston Bridge near Westmount Elementary.

Mounties say the pace of the North Thompson would pull the suspect downstream, well past the bridge deck, before he was able to pull himself out of the water on the south side of span on Tk’emlups territory.

This means the suspect would have been swept down the North Thompson — which continues to flow at a late-freshet pace — for around a kilometer — or possibly more — before making it to shore at some point along the little-touched river shore which marks the western boundary of the Mt. Paul Industrial Park.

“Police officers flooded the ground and the River, with assistance Kamloops Fire and Rescue,” added Shoihet.  “However, the suspect was not located, despite significant searching.”

Shoihet says they’re asking people along the eastern side of the North Thompson, in and around the Mt. Paul Industrial Park, who may have seen a person matching the suspect’s description to contact them immediately.

“He was last seen wearing a pair of blue jeans,” the statement reads, suggesting this may have been all he was wearing when he took the plunge.

This also suggests the suspect may have been quite easy to recognize, and could well have been looking for somewhere to dry off and potentially warm up after harnessing the power of the River to make good his alleged splash to freedom.

At the time, the RCMP were advising folks living or working along the eastern banks of the North Thompson to avoid contact with the suspect if they happened to encounter a man who fit his description.

“If you see him immediately call police,” said Shoihet.

It’s not clear if the suspect was carrying any of the cash which police say appears to have been taken from the ATM before before it and the stolen truck were eventually located.

It’s also not clear how much money may have been in the ATM at the time it was snatched from the Westsyder Pub.