San Diego

A 23-year-old man who reportedly tried to steal a car died in a struggle with the owner of the vehicle Friday morning. Coroner’s deputies are investigating the cause of death of the Leucadia man, whose name was withheld, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Sheriffs received a call about a possible vehicle burglary in Leucadia at the home of Eugene Chappee. When they arrived, Chappee’s wife, Margaret, told them her husband had seen a man in their fenced yard. Chappee, 63, chased the man over fences and through several yards.

Chappee caught the man and, during a struggle at a driveway on Neptune Avenue, the man became unconscious. Paramedics took him to Scripps Hospital in Encinitas, where he was pronounced dead. According to the spokesman, Chappee was interviewed by sheriff’s homicide detectives and released.