Police: Man tries to swallow bag of cocaine, chokes to death

WAYNESBORO, Va. — A Virginia man choked to death last week when he tried to swallow a bag of cocaine as drug task force agents descended on his home, police officials said.

William Tucker, 52, of Waynesboro, was pronounced dead Friday morning at Augusta Health, according to a Virginia State Police news release. The release, obtained by WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, said authorities were still trying to determine how much of the white powder, which the preliminary investigation showed was cocaine, Tucker ingested.

State police officials said that the Skyline Drug Task Force, with help from the Waynesboro Police Department's SWAT team, executed a search warrant just after 9 a.m. Friday at Tucker's home. The search warrant was part of an ongoing drug investigation by the task force, which is made up of officers from multiple municipal and state agencies.

As the agents entered the house, they found Tucker trying to stuff the cocaine-filled bag into his mouth.

The bag became lodged in his throat.

"The officers immediately went to the man's aid, but he refused their repeated attempts to assist him with removing the bag lodged in his throat," the news release said. "After the man lost consciousness, a Waynesboro police detective began administering CPR and was able to regain a pulse until EMS arrived on scene."

Despite several rescue attempts by the officers and EMS, Tucker died, the release said.

A woman and two children were safely removed from the home during the raid. Officials did not say if or how they were related to Tucker.

Cox Media Group