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Police: Man dies after trying to swallow bag of pot
07:16 AM CST on Thursday, November 20, 2003

By DONNA FIELDER / Denton Record-Chronicle

Corinth police say that a Denton man who had a flat tire on the roadside choked to death on a plastic bag of marijuana early Wednesday after they stopped to assist him.

Nickolas Sandoval, 24, died at Denton Regional Medical Center about 3:35 a.m., officials said. The Tarrant County medical examiner's office determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation due to aspiration of a plastic bag.

Corinth police said they were responding to reports of a reckless driver when they saw Mr. Sandoval's vehicle pulled over with a flat tire on northbound Interstate 35E in the Corinth city limits.

"The officers pulled over as a welfare concern," said Officer Frank Lott. "He appeared to be changing a tire. He started choking, and the officers immediately moved to assist him. He had a large bag of marijuana and apparently tried to hide it by swallowing it."

Mr. Sandoval's family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

One of the officers was a paramedic, Officer Lott said, and he performed the Heimlich maneuver on Mr. Sandoval. The other officer radioed for help.

Paramedics arrived and managed to remove the plastic bag from Mr. Sandoval's throat, officials said, but they were not able to revive him.

The bag's contents turned out to be marijuana, Officer Lott said. He said he was not sure about the quantity. Mr. Sandoval apparently panicked when he saw the police car pull in behind him with its emergency lights flashing and tried to swallow the controlled substance, he said.

"He was not being stopped for anything. He was not being detained for anything," Officer Lott said. "Our officers valiantly tried to save this man's life."

According to Denton County court records, Mr. Sandoval pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana between July 1999 and December 2001.

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