Michael Cortez, 31, jumped into the Cache la Poudre River in the US state of Colorado while pursued by police who identified him as a wanted man.

Once in the water, Mr Cortez “began to float to the east, down river”, the local City of Fort Collins Police Department said.

“At areas where the river was shallow, he would stand up and walk on foot, still in the river continuing east,” the force added.

During the slow-paced river journey, Mr Cortez became separated from his backpack, which was recovered by police and allegedly found to contain 35 grams of methamphetamine.

Fire authorities sought to rescue Mr Cortez from the river, but he “would throw the ropes away from him and intentionally resisted efforts to be assisted out of the river”.

Police officers were unable to enter the water to arrest him as it was “determined that it was not safe”.

Mr Cortez eventually left the river voluntarily after being in the water for six hours and was taken into custody.