A man was captured and then died in custody early yesterday morning, police said, after he led them on a brief car and foot chase on back roads in Harford County.

Robert A. Wagner Jr., who lived in the county, was wanted on several charges, including burglary, assault and possession of cocaine, according to Maryland State Police.

Law enforcement officers apprehended Wagner without using any force or pepper spray, handcuffed him and then realized he was short of breath, state police said. They said they couldn't find his pulse.

State troopers, Harford County sheriff's deputies and a volunteer paramedic tried to revive the suspect with a portable defibrillator and by performing CPR, but he was pronounced dead at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, police said.

Wagner had been drinking and using cocaine throughout Friday, police said they learned from interviews.

Police said Wagner was 42 and had given an address in the 4400 block of Sanford Court in Belcamp, which is five miles southwest of Aberdeen. Other records indicate he was 41 and lived in Edgewood.

"Without the drugs, he comes from a good, wealthy family," said Essex resident Vernon Sions, who said his stepdaughter was briefly married to Wagner in the mid-1990s. "He threw it all away."

The pursuit started about 1 a.m. when Harford County sheriff's deputies received a tip that Wagner was at a bar on U.S. 40. They went to arrest him.

But while deputies were pulling up to the bar, they saw Wagner leaving in a 2002 Hyundai, they said. They turned around and pursued him.

State troopers joined the pursuit and unsuccessfully tried to stop Wagner, they said.

Wagner led troopers and deputies on a mile-long chase down back roads, then his car skidded off Bush Road in southern Harford, police said.

He ran from the vehicle, but police caught him about 100 yards from his car and handcuffed him, they said.

Wagner's passenger -- Lori A. Rollins, 36, of Edgewood -- suffered minor injuries in the wreck.

She stayed in the car and was later taken to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, where she was treated and released.

An autopsy will be performed at the state medical examiner's office in Baltimore, police said.

State police officials are also conducting an internal affairs investigation into the incident. Such investigations are routine when a suspect dies in custody, state police Sgt. William Willis said.

Police said they found a "significant quantity" of suspected cocaine on Wagner. Drug paraphernalia including syringes and a crack pipe were found near his car and where he was arrested, they said.

Police said Wagner had a 35-page criminal record that dates back more than two decades.

Sions said, "He's been in trouble his whole life."