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Drug Suspect Dies After Choking On Plastic Bag

NATRONA HEIGHTS, Pa. (AP) -- A western Pennsylvania drug suspect has died after choking on a plastic bag that authorities believe contained illegal drugs.

Laboratory tests are still needed to confirm what was in the bag that caused the death of 40-year-old Curtis Patterson, of New Kensington.

Police in New Kensington and the nearby municipalities of Brackenridge, East Deer and Tarentum had been chasing Patterson before he was seen swallowing the bag.

Patterson was taken to the Alle-Kiski Medical Center in Harrison Township where he died about 3 a.m. Saturday.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner ruled his death an accident as a result of asphyxiation.

Police have not said, specifically, why they were chasing Patterson.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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