Man chokes to death trying to hide bag of pot in mouth

Associated Press ^ | November 19, 2003

[Dog Gone]

FORT WORTH -- A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it from police who stopped to help him early today.

Cpl. Frank Lott of the Corinth Police Department said officers had no idea Nickolas Sandoval, 24, of Ponder, had drugs when they spotted him on Interstate 35E in Corinth, about 45 miles northeast of Fort Worth.

"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 for its online edition today.

Officers noticed a plastic bag lodged in the man's throat, but it was too far down for them to extract. They kept trying to dislodge it until an ambulance arrived, and medical personnel were able to remove it, Lott said.

Sandoval was pronounced dead at Denton Regional Medical Center about 3:30 a.m., said Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. The cause of death has been ruled as "asphyxiation due to aspiration of plastic bag," she said.

Sandoval had been convicted in Denton County of multiple counts of marijuana possession, a Class B misdemeanor, between September 1999 and December 2001, court records show. He pleaded guilty to the charge in September 1999 and received a deferred adjudication sentence after 12 months of probation.

In August 2000, he pleaded no contest to another marijuana possession charge and was sentenced to 40 days in jail. In December 2001, he was convicted of possession of marijuana and sentenced to 95 days in jail. Also in December 2001, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to another 95 days in jail.

[TheOtherOne]

Recorded death due to marijuana

Typical logic from you. I assume you are actually serious...I am sure most people think you are kidding.

[xrp]

Haha, that's a good joke.

More like a plastic bag overdose.

[South40]

Recorded death due to marijuana

How do you know the baggie didn't cause his death?

[Havoc]

Just what I was thinking. LOL

[TSgt]

Maybe he had the munchies...

[Petronski]

When one kills a wild turkey, it is common to cut open the craw to see what the turkey had eaten last.

In the case of this turkey, we already know.

[spodefly]

Sometimes the complete dearth of intelligent life periodically in evidence here leaves me speechless.

Sometimes, I too am periodically speechless. The evidence of complete dearths gets me every time. Fortunately, I have a keen sense of the absurd, whether I know it or not.

[_Jim]

Darwin award.....

I'll second that!

[dware]

JUST DAMN

Your ping list fits this one to a "T". My thoughts EXACTLY!

[Poohbah]

To quote the Holy Avatar, Forrest Gump: "Stupid is as stupid does."

[Sabertooth]

"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 for its online edition today.

Officers noticed a plastic bag lodged in the man's throat, but it was too far down for them to extract. They kept trying to dislodge it until an ambulance arrived, and medical personnel were able to remove it, Lott said.

Sheesh, doesn't anyone know how to do a tracheaotomy?

[Travis McGee]

oH WOw mAN, lIke, majOr BumMeR, dUde.....

[vox humana]

Why are you giving this idiot THREE Darwin Awards?

One is enough. Let's not waste these awards. There are many other morons out there that also deserve a Darwin!

[Poohbah]

As the hippie said when the safe fell on him...

"That's heavy, man..."

[Petronski]

Sheesh, doesn't anyone know how to do a tracheaotomy?

Haven't they ever seen M*A*S*H?

[Poohbah]

I think his "Post" button was set on BURST instead of SEMI.

[Jorge]

He should have took the pot out of the bag before swallowing it.

I remember eating a bag of pot once when the police pulled us over. I was riding in a van with the Warlocks back in the 70's.
The locks were really cool about it, in fact one of them was blowing pot smoke out the passenger side window while the cop walk up to the driver's side.( while I was frantically eating my pot). Then they talked to the cop like he was a little pip-squeak and pretty much scared the police off.

I felt really dumb for eating my pot.

[Scenic Sounds]

Yeah, I hear ya. We still have some pretty crazy laws. You know, I remember when, 30 or 40 years ago, the screwballs who were running Texas were handing out life sentences for pot. Can you imagine that?

[Old Professer]

It's no wonder he had a flat tire, he wore them out driving from the courthouse to the jail and back.

[FreeReign]

I shouldn't laugh, but it is kinda funny. Reminds me of this true story - white man buys heroin in black neighborhood late at night. white man is walking down street to bus stop when cops pull up and tell him it's a dangerious neighborhood for a white guy and offer him a ride to a safer place to catch the bus. man, so as not to arouse suspicion by running away from cops, gets ride in cruiser to a better bus stop, heroin in pocket.

Funny, for sure man. That dude escaped the bad hood and then he escaped from the cops. He's home free now *laughing* -- NOT!

If the bad neighborhood doesn't get you and if the cop doesn't get you -- then the heroin surely will.