Fugitive from Portland is fished out of a pond after his escape plants him up to his armpits in mud.

A suspect in an attempted murder who had escaped police custody became trapped up to his armpits and needed rescue.

According to the Oregon State Police, Christopher Pray, 39, managed to break free from a psychiatric hospital in Oregon on Wednesday, but his brief freedom ended when he fell into a muddy Portland pond.

Videos and photographs depicted the Portland Fire and Rescue Department firefighters lowering Pray to safety with cables from a ladder suspended above the small body of water.

According to state police, Pray gave firefighters a false name, but a hospital employee recognized the fugitive and contacted law enforcement.

The Oregon State Police are still investigating how Pray managed to evade police custody on Wednesday.

According to police, he escaped the hospital undetected despite being restrained with leg restraints, a belly chain, and handcuffs. He stole the van he was transported in while the driver was outside.

When Pray first escaped custody, law enforcement warned the community to be on the lookout for an “extremely dangerous” fugitive.

In connection with an incident in March 2022, he is charged with a laundry list of violent offenses, including attempted aggravated murder, robbery, assault, and felony possession of a firearm.

During a robbery in Multnomah County, Oregon, he allegedly came within inches of killing a woman. He is also accused of assaulting her with a tool during a violent domestic dispute, for which he faces charges.

According to court records reviewed by the Associated Press, Pray was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem earlier this week after being deemed unfit to stand trial.

Shortly after his admission, Pray engaged in “an altercation with another patient,” according to Amber Shoebridge, spokesperson for the state hospital, in a statement to media outlets.

Then, on Friday, he made an audacious and preposterous escape that ended in a muddy pond.

Pray has a pattern of evading the police. He attempted to flee in two criminal proceedings in June and August of 2022.