The body of a man who police say may have drowned after scuffling with a city police officer was found about 1:30 p.m. Friday in the river waters near Bridgepoint Plaza.

As of Friday evening, the man had not been identified and the cause of death had not been officially determined, said Floyd County Coroner Barry Henderson.

Rome-Floyd Emergency Management Director Scotty Hancock said recovery crews found the body where the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers meet, forming the Coosa River.

Recovery crews used draglines and infrared cameras to comb the murky water for the drowned man.

They searched until 4 a.m. Friday and then started again at 9:15 a.m., Hancock said.

The unidentified man ran away after his vehicle was stopped by an officer near the Shorter Avenue Kangaroo Station just after 10 p.m., a Rome Police Department report stated.

Officer Shaun Davis spotted the man around midnight on the Robert C. Redden Footbridge and described him as about 5 feet tall with a ponytail and wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

Davis chased the man across the pedestrian bridge toward Broad Street from Heritage Park, and the two wrestled for a few minutes after the man tripped, the report stated.

Davis tried to subdue the man with pepper spray, getting some on himself, and then backed away while trying to pull out his handcuffs, the report stated.

The man then fled again, running on the sidewalk along the riverbank before tripping and falling into the water, according to the report.

Officers tried to get the man to wade to shore, but he walked deeper into the river and went under the water, the report stated.

Deputy Chief Lonzo Roberson said the department probably will decide by Monday whether to conduct an internal investigation