Multiple agencies came to the aid of a suspected robber Sunday night, who plunged into the Ramapo River in Sloatsburg and got stranded on a rock.

On a night that reminded everyone of the bite of winter, a Sloatsburg local created a scene right of an episode of the popular shoot and chase show COPS.

It appeared that a Sloatsburg resident was reportedly engaged in some sort of attempted illegal activity at the Sloatsburg Travel Plaza along the New York Thruway, when he fled the scene and down the banks of the Ramapo River toward Sloatsburg. According to New York State Police, State Police received a call around 7 p.m. regarding an attempted robbery at the Thruway Sunoco gas station. News12 Westchester reported that the suspect may have “indicated he was armed.” Early reports of the incident identified the Thruway McDonalds as the site of the mischief.

The suspect is familiar to many in Sloatsburg and is purportedly related to a person reported by news outlets throughout the Hudson Valley as caught up in a February 2015 Rockland County law enforcement task force drug sweep that charged 22 people across the county with drug possession and sales — that person was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance (heroin), both felonies.

A multi-jurisdictional, multi-county and multi-state incident in which a single criminal suspect put dozens of first responders at risk of serious injury. We hope this individual can get the help they need and will no longer be a threat to public safety.  — Sloatsburg Fire Department

Between 8:30 and 9 p.m. a New York State Police helicopter was seen and heard flying low around Sloatsburg, searchlight flickering along stretches around Eagle Valley Road before flying back to the Ramapo River.

According to the Sloatsburg Fire Department, the SFD received a call at 7:25 p.m. to assist State Police and Ramapo Police in the apprehension of the Ramapo rest area robbery suspect, who police tracked down by the river.

First Assistant Chief Christopher Morse arrived on the scene and saw what turned out to be a man stuck on a rock in the middle of the Ramapo River,  just south of the fast flowing waters at Sloat Dam. The SFD called in assistance from the Stony Point Fire Department and their Swift Water Rescue Team was requested.

Eventually fan boats from the NYSP and the Mahwah Fire Department joined the rescue, while clung to his hard rock in the near freezing night temperature and cold, cold water. That part of the Ramapo River, at the Sloat Dam, is tricky, with rocks and logs and other tree debris submerged in the water.

The man was finally removed from his river rock and taken to the Sloatsburg Volunteer Ambulance Corp at Seven Lakes Drive and Washington Avenue, then later transported to Good Samaritan Hospital where he was treated for hypothermia.

In a strange addition to local to the story, LoHud reporter Alex Taylor wrote that someone who identified herself as the man just rescued from the rock’s sister said that her brother had been drinking all day Sunday and “should have been taken into police custody earlier in the day.”

“There was an order,” the woman told LoHud. “And they refused to take him. They let him walk the streets.”

The NYSP report said that felony charges are pending against the robbery suspect, who remained under arrest as of Monday morning while police continued their investigation.