Robbery suspect pulled from Ramapo River identified

SLOATSBURG – Police pulled a robbery suspect out of the Ramapo River on Sunday night after he jumped into the icy water and became stranded on a rock while trying to cross.

Richard P. Morgan, 49, of Ramapo was later taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern for treatment of possibly hypothermia, state police said Monday. Felony charges are pending.

Authorities said the robbery took place around 7 p.m. at the Sunoco gas station at the Ramapo rest area on I-87. Morgan then fled less than a mile northwest on foot toward the wooded banks of the Ramapo River off the Waldron Terrace residential neighborhood.

Troopers from the State Police Special Operations Response Team as well as aviation and maritime units converged on area along with officers from the Ramapo Police Department, the Rockland County Sheriff's Department and volunteer firefighters.

Troopers' flashlights cut through the dark. Temperatures hovered near freezing.

Officers cornered Morgan as he tried to cross the river where it breaks into rapids, becoming stranded on a rock. The police search involved airboats, officers in wetsuits, at least one helicopter, snipers and a crisis negotiator.

Morgan was pulled out of the water about 10:50 p.m. and taken into custody on the river's right bank.

One woman at the scene, who identified herself as Michelle Morgan, the sister of Richard Morgan, said her brother was intoxicated on Sunday and should have been taken into police custody earlier in the day.

"There was an order," she said. "And they refused to take him. They let him walk the streets."

At one point, a police boat got beached on a rock in the river, which is about 150 feet wide where Morgan tried to cross and choked with ice, tree branches and debris.

The 155-mile Ramapo River winds past Interstate 87 before spilling into northern New Jersey.

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