The cause of death of a man who broke into an Edgewood home in late November has been ruled as asphyxiation.
On Nov. 22, around 4:40 p.m., Joseph Augustine Breckenridge, of the 2000 block of Rockwell Street, entered a home on the same block through an unlocked front door, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. After entering the home, Breckenridge struggled with one of the residents before his death.
A woman living there was alone and when she saw Breckenridge enter, she ran to another neighbor's house to get her husband, Monica Worrell, spokesperson for the sheriff's office, said at the time.
The woman's husband and their neighbor asked Breckenridge to leave, she said, and when he didn't there was a struggle as they held him down until the police arrived. Once the police came on scene, however, Breckenridge was unconscious and not breathing.
He was pronounced dead shortly after 5:30 p.m. at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air. The men who were holding Breckenridge down did not know he was unconscious, Worrell added at the time.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner released Tuesday that his death was ruled as asphyxiation, according to Worrell. The manner of death is pending, she said.
Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly also wrote in an e-mail that his office would not be prosecuting.