A man who died while in custody of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office last month died of an overdose after he swallowed cocaine, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner.

Gerard Andrew Ryan, 48, of Minneapolis, had led state troopers on a chase from Shakopee to Richfield before he was arrested and booked into jail about midnight Dec. 2. He died about 10 hours later at Hennepin County Medical Center, according to the county medical examiner's office.

He died of multiple organ failure from cardiac arrest due to cocaine toxicity he swallowed, the medical examiner said in a news release Tuesday. He was resuscitated before he was taken to the hospital.

Contributing factors to Ryan's death included severe heart disease, cardiomegaly and left ventricular hypertrophy, "self-injurious behavior and struggle with multiple people," the release said.

He had been booked into the jail on charges of fleeing police. There also had been warrants out for his arrest on charges of driving under the influence of controlled substances, jail records showed.

DAVID CHANEN