MANCHESTER, N.H. — Police say a suspect in a theft from a department store swam across the Merrimack River while fleeing state and local officers before being apprehended.

Just before midnight Friday, Manchester police responded after Bedford police reported a suspect who was being detained about a possible theft from a store had fled and his tracks led down to the Merrimack River.

Manchester police began searching on their side of the river after a resident reported a man had just come up from the river, which is almost 600 feet wide in the area.

Police said the suspect, 22-year-old Timothy Winslow of Manchester, was soaking wet when apprehended early Saturday.

He’s due in court next month.