POLICE: MAN DIES AFTER TRYING TO SWALLOW BAG OF POT

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.