MAN BELIEVED DEAD OF DRUG OVERDOSE

adams county» A man was found dead of a suspected drug overdose early Saturday after a brief vehicle pursuit and a scuffle with a sheriff ’s deputy in Adams County.

The ordeal began at about 3:30 a.m. when the deputy responded to a report of a drunk or drugged driver. The deputy found the suspect and tried to pull him over, but the man wouldn’t stop, according to Sgt. Jim Morgen, an Adams County Sheriff ’s Office spokesman.

“I wouldn’t call it a pursuit because it sounds like the guy didn’t act like an officer was following him,” Morgen said. “He acted like he was just driving home.”

Eventually, the suspect stopped in a neighborhood near or in the 8000 block of Emerson Street, where the deputy tried to confront him. There was a brief struggle, Morgen said, and the deputy deployed his Taser.

The shock device didn’t work, however, because the man was wearing a thick leather jacket.

“They described it as a motorcycle leather jacket,” Morgen said. “The guy took off at foot at that point.”

The man ran onto a property and the deputy called for backup. Authorities set up a perimeter around the area and about a half hour later they found the suspect dead in a backyard.

“Next to the guy’s body they found some drug paraphernalia,” Morgen said. “They may have found some drugs in his car.” The man’s name and age have not been released.

Body found after canoe accident.

Jefferson County sheriff ’s deputies recovered the body of Henry Wendel, a man who had been missing since a canoe accident at Wellington Lake on March 22.

Wendel and his wife were in the canoe when it overturned in the lake. His wife was taken to a hospital with severe hypothermia, and a multiday search started for the 66-year-old man.

Remains found by canal in western Colorado

grand junction» Authorities are asking for the public’s help identifying skeletal remains found near a canal in western Colorado.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported the man’s remains might have been on the bank of a canal on Orchard Mesa for as long as a year before they were found in December. A DNA sample from bone marrow has been sent to a crime lab for testing.

Investigators say the man was white, about 5-foot-5, and between 25 and 40 years old. He was found with a Chevrolet key ring and a white metal necklace with a crucifix.

Foul play is not suspected.