KEY POINTS:
Blenheim police say someone should recognise a sopping wet, cut and bleeding man running through the town in the middle of the night in just his green underwear and a tie-dyed shirt.
The man had eluded police after breaking into the home of an elderly Blenheim woman.
Police believe that after a two-hour chase, he managed to get away by stripping down to his underwear and swimming across the Opawa River.
Constable Michelle Stagg of Blenheim police said that about 1.15am today a man entered a Dillons Point Road house where the 75-year-old woman occupant was asleep.
She woke and called police, who tracked him with a dog unit for more than two hours.
The man then swam across the Opawa River but police were able to cordon off the area on the other side of the river.
"At some point the male has discarded his jeans and black puffer jacket, he has been observed by an officer in a pair of green undies and a tie-dyed shirt," Ms Stagg said.
Police believe he once again jumped into the river and they lost track of him.
They recovered his jeans but believe his puffer jacket has been abandoned.
The man was described as a Pacific Islander, of short, stocky build, aged 35 to 40 years. At one stage he was wearing a black puffer jacket and jeans.
- NZPA
