Police: Man chokes to death trying to hide bag of pot in mouth
Thursday, November 20, 2003
©2003 Associated Press
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/11/20/national1020EST0548.DTL
(11-20) 07:20 PST FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) --
A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he had stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it from police who stopped to help him, authorities said.
Nickolas Sandoval, 24, died Wednesday.
Officers were unaware at first Sandoval had drugs when they spotted him on the highway in Corinth, about 45 miles northeast of Fort Worth, said Corinth police Cpl. Frank Lott.
"Officers went from 'Oh, hey, here is someone with a flat tire' to 'Hey, this guy is choking,"' Lott told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Sandoval, of Ponder, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Cause of death: "asphyxiation due to aspiration of plastic bag," according to a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office.
Sandoval was convicted at least three times of marijuana possession, and pleaded guilty two years ago to a drunken-driving charge.
©2003 Associated Press
Thursday, November 20, 2003
©2003 Associated Press
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/11/20/national1020EST0548.DTL
(11-20) 07:20 PST FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) --
A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he had stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it from police who stopped to help him, authorities said.
Nickolas Sandoval, 24, died Wednesday.
Officers were unaware at first Sandoval had drugs when they spotted him on the highway in Corinth, about 45 miles northeast of Fort Worth, said Corinth police Cpl. Frank Lott.
"Officers went from 'Oh, hey, here is someone with a flat tire' to 'Hey, this guy is choking,"' Lott told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Sandoval, of Ponder, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Cause of death: "asphyxiation due to aspiration of plastic bag," according to a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office.
Sandoval was convicted at least three times of marijuana possession, and pleaded guilty two years ago to a drunken-driving charge.
©2003 Associated Press
