Police have arrested a man suspected of chopping off his pregnant wife’s arm and two fingers from her other hand.

Yong Yu, 35, was arrested near Niagara Falls late on Saturday night, the New York Police Department said.

Yu was wearing a life jacket and it is believed he was planning to swim across to Canada.

“He purchased a life jacket, and we’re assuming he was going to swim across,” Deputy Marshal Brent Novak told The Buffalo News.

Yong Yu used a knife to sever wife’s right arm just above the elbow in the attack in Brooklyn (New York Police Department)

“He talked to a bus driver and asked to ride over to Canada in the luggage compartment,” Mr Novak said, but the bus driver refused.

Yu now faces a charge of first-degree assault.

Police said he used a knife to sever his 35-year-old wife’s right arm just above the elbow in the attack in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, on Thursday afternoon.

He also cut off two fingers from her left hand.

The woman was hospitalised and her arm was successfully reattached, though her fingers were not, officials said.