MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – A man suspected of shoplifting led police on a foot chase, jumped into a river and was presumed dead – until officers knocked on his door 12 hours later and he answered.

“I thought I’d seen just about everything,” said Chief Douglas Hoyt.

Travis Record, 31, ran when an officer – investigating a report of a suspicious man – tried to question him late Monday.

When Sgt. Tony Facos approached him, Record jumped into the rain-swollen North Branch of the Winooski River, struggling and yelling for help as he was swept into the Winooski’s main stem, about 60 yards away.

Looking down from a bridge, Hoyt trained his flashlight on the man and watched as he disappeared underwater.

“I never felt more helpless in my entire life,” Hoyt said. “I did not have any equipment or means to assist him. … It just gives you a really sick feeling in your stomach. I was absolutely convinced in my mind that I’d just witnessed a person drown.”

Rescue squads from Montpelier and neighboring Berlin were called in, unsuccessfully searching the river and its banks for about two hours before a Vermont State Police dive team took over.

They were “clearly not in rescue mode but were in recovery mode,” Hoyt said.

On Tuesday, Sgt. James Gavin and Officer Matt Knisley went to an apartment where Record was believed to have lived to gather information about him, believing he was dead. He answered the door.

“I believe you’re here to see me about an arrest warrant,” said Record, who told them he hadn’t done much Monday night, according to Hoyt.

He was arrested on an outstanding shoplifting charge stemming from an incident in June in which he failed to appear for his court date.

It was unclear Tuesday whether he would be charged with eluding police.

“A lot of agony and anguish took place,” Hoyt said. “I don’t think there’s any crime that we can charge a person for creating agony, but that clearly did happen.”

Lt. Douglas Jasman, a city firefighter participating in the search effort, suffered minor injuries to his cheek, knee and wrist when he slipped and fell on rain-slickened rocks near the river. He was treated at a hospital and released.