A Petaluma man who died after a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy placed him in a carotid restraint was mistaken for a potentially armed suspect in a stolen car, officials said Monday.

David Glen Ward, 52, was driving his own vehicle last Wednesday — which he had reported stolen three days earlier, officials said — when two sheriff’s deputies and two Sebastopol police officers attempted to pull him over, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department, which is investigating the incident.

Ward refused to stop and the officers pursued his green Honda Civic and surrounded it, before attempting to pull him out of the car through an open driver’s-side window, authorities said. In the struggle, a deputy put an arm around Ward’s neck, which caused him to become unresponsive and later die at the hospital, officials said.

Police released a more detailed account Monday of the encounter in an unincorporated area of west Sonoma County. They said Ward had reported the Honda as stolen Nov. 24 by an armed suspect, but had not made any additional reports about the car.

According to police, an off-duty Santa Rosa detective notified the Sheriff’s Office early Wednesday morning that he had spotted the vehicle, which was still listed as stolen, near Frei and Guerneville roads.

Jason Little, a 12-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, was the closest on-duty officer to the area. He said he located the vehicle at 5:54 a.m. and attempted to stop it near Bloomfield and Murray roads, according to the account from Santa Rosa police.

Two Sebastopol police officers — Andrew Bauer, an officer for six years who had previously worked for the Sheriff’s Office, and Ethan Stockton, an officer for two years — followed in their patrol vehicles. Officials did not say whether the officers were using lights and sirens or ordering the driver to stop.

The vehicle initially stopped, then continued, and the three officers continued their pursuit, police said. According to the account, after an unsuccessful maneuver to stop the car, the deputy and officers boxed it in with their patrol cars, ending the pursuit at 6:02 a.m. on Sutton Street, a dead end.

The chase lasted seven minutes at a top speed of 70 mph, police said. A few minutes after the pursuit ended, a second deputy, Charlie Blount, a 19-year veteran of the department, arrived. The four officers reported that they approached the car and ordered Ward to open the door. He did not open it, but put his hands up and lowered them out of sight repeatedly, police said.

Ward eventually rolled down the window, and the officers tried to pull him out of his car through the window. Ward bit the two deputies during the struggle, police said. The deputies and officers used “personal body weapons” and struck Ward several times, Santa Rosa police said. They said Little used his Taser on Ward, but Ward “continued to struggle.”

Blount, who was standing outside the driver’s door while Ward sat inside his car, reached through the window and placed one arm around his neck to administer a carotid restraint hold, officials said. Meanwhile, Stockton smashed the passenger-side window with his baton and opened the door.

The carotid restraint hold places pressure on the carotid artery in the neck and is meant to cause unconsciousness. Sonoma County sheriff’s policy dictates that “due to the potential for injury,” the move should be used only when the subject is violent or physically resisting, and only by a trained deputy.

Sgt. Juan Valencia, an office spokesman, told The Chronicle that a carotid restraint hold is not a choke hold, because if used correctly, it does not constrict the airway. It is used to render a person unconscious so deputies can conduct an arrest, he said, adding that “it’s not considered deadly force at all.”

The deputies and officers removed Ward from his car through the passenger door and handcuffed him. A deputy called the sheriff’s dispatch center at 6:10 a.m. to report that Ward did not appear to be breathing, and police began administering CPR, officials said.

Medical personnel arrived on scene at 6:21 a.m. and took Ward to Petaluma Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:17 a.m.

The four law enforcement officials involved have been placed on administrative review, Valencia said.

This story has been updated. Police said David Glen Ward was pursued in his own car, but that he had reported it stolen three days earlier.

Anna Bauman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: anna.bauman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @abauman2