COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said police acted appropriately during the July arrest in Coeur d'Alene along Interstate 90 of a 30-year-old man who lost consciousness in the process and later died.

Nicholas "Nic" Andrew Clason, from the Spokane area, was taken to Kootenai Medical Center and admitted to the intensive care unit following the arrest, but he never regained consciousness. He was taken off life support and died July 14.

McHugh's office in October began reviewing the case and officers' actions, seeking to determine whether any criminal charges should be filed.

A forensic pathologist from Spokane that investigated the death determined Clason "suffered respiratory arrest caused by methamphetamine toxicity, and that after resuscitation Mr. Clason later died of hypoxic encephalopathy," or a lack of oxygen to the brain, McHugh wrote in his letter to the police agencies involved in the incident and its investigation. He released the letter Monday to The Press, though it was written in December.

The pathologist was Dr. John Howard.

"Significantly, Dr. Howard found that '(police) restraining measures did not cause death independent of the drug toxicity,'" McHugh wrote.

McHugh on Tuesday declined to describe the restraining measures used by police. He said he plans to release a copy of a video of the incident to The Press.

McHugh reviewed police reports, autopsy results and the video before making his decision.

Police at the time said officers responded about 10:45 p.m. on July 10 to the westbound on-ramp at Fourth Street and I-90 to a report of a suicidal man.

Officers said Clason was trying to harm himself "with a sharp object."

McHugh said he didn't know what the sharp object was.

In a press release at the time of the incident, police said that after several minutes of verbal commands by officers to drop the object, Clason laid on the ground and officers were able to take him into custody.

Officers then became concerned that Clason had stopped breathing, police said.

They began CPR, and continued that until emergency medical personnel arrived.

Clason was taken to the hospital for what "appeared to be a possible drug overdose," police said at the time.

Also in his letter, McHugh said the Post Falls Police Department and Kootenai County Sheriff's Department conducted a "thorough and detailed investigation."

Idaho State Police and Coeur d'Alene police officers took Clason into custody.