TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) - The search for a half-naked man, finally ended Saturday night. However, not without some interesting twists.

Officials say it all started when Erie County Sheriff's Deputies pulled over Mark Pannell on Grand Island early Saturday morning.

When they tried to arrest the 27 year-old, who had two warrants, they said he took off, drove about 100 yards, ditched the car, and as he ran away, started stripping.

It was not until 10:30 p.m., when police say a person spotted Pannell on one of the south Grand Island bridges.

Sheriff's deputies chased him into the Mid River Marina in Tonawanda, where he jumped into the Niagara River.

Deputy Michael Haug was one of the arresting officers on the scene. "He just kept saying he had six kids. He didn't want to go to jail."

Pannell is currently being held without bail at the Erie County holding center.

  

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Previous Story: 11:22 p.m., July 19, 2008

Update:  Town of Tonawanda, N.Y. (WIVB) - - A man suspected of fleeing from police while nearly nude is in custody of Erie County Sheriff's Deputies.

A Sheriff's dispatcher tells News 4, the suspect went into the water at Mid City Marina in Tonawanda just before 11 p.m. Saturday night.

The dispatcher says police fished the man out of the water just minutes later.  His next stop is the Sheriff's substation on Grand Island.

For the latest on this story, watch Wake Up! Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. on Channel 4.

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GRAND ISLAND, N.Y. (WIVB) - If you see a man walking or running in his underwear, don't approach him.  Call police.

Police are searching for a suspect who stripped and took off.

Sky high and on the ground below. Several law enforcement agencies work together to find a man who took off from Erie County Sheriff's deputies during a traffic stop Saturday morning on Grand Island Boulevard.

Erie County Sheriff's Deputy Shaun Hediger said, "We went up to the vehicle to try to take the subject into custody. He threw the vehicle into drive and proceeded to take off about a 100 yards through a paved parking lot."

And into the woods he ran. Deputies are puzzled by the suspect's moves. They were trying to take him into custody after running his license.

Hediger added, "The warrants were out of the City of Buffalo for some basically minor things."

A perimeter is set up to include Staley Road, Stony Point, Grand Island Blvd., and Whitehaven Road. While authorities have not released a name or description, they know the man they're looking for want be hard to find.

"We have some articles of his clothing and at this point, we do know that he is barefoot and down to just his underwear," Hediger said.

You read right, the suspect who is trying to stay undercover in the woods, is down to his underwear.  "He was fully clothed went he traffic stop was initiated. But he started shedding clothes as he was running through the wooded area," the Deputy said.

At the time this story was put together, the suspect had been cited but not caught.

Witness Eddie Weiser said, "This is different. It doesn't really happen a lot. A pretty exciting way to start the morning off I guess."

Perhaps an understatement as law enforcers search high and low for a man in his underwear.

Story by Mylous Hairston, WIVB