What to Know
- A funeral will be held for Jameek Lowery, who was the man who died two days after he walked into an NJ police station as he livestreamed it
- Lowery's death has sparked outrage in the city of Paterson
- Paterson's mayor has announced several initiatives aimed at repairing trust between police and the community following Lowery's death
Family and friends will say their final goodbyes to the 27-year-old man who walked into a police station in New Jersey, wound up unresponsive while being transported by police to the hospital -- then declared dead two days later.
Jameek Lowery's funeral will be held Friday. His death has sparked outrage in the city of Paterson.
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh previously announced several new initiatives aimed at repairing trust between police and the community in the days following Lowery's death.
Sayegh has promised the city will provide answers as to how Lowery died.
Lowery first called 911 at around 2:45 a.m. on Jan. 5, saying he had taken ecstasy and was paranoid, according to a preliminary investigation by the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office.
EMS responded and took him to a local hospital, but Lowery became erratic there and left.
At around 3:40 a.m., Lowery again called 911, this time from a Wendy's restaurant near Broadway and Memorial Drive, saying people were trying to kill him, the prosecutor's office said. He walked into the Paterson Police headquarters nearby at 111 Broadway, appearing agitated.
While inside police headquarters, Lowery livestreamed to his Facebook page from inside the police station, shouting in an apparent fit of paranoia.
He ranted, at times incoherently.
The officers maintained their distance while Lowery recorded on his cellphone, and attempted to calm him from afar. When he told them he was dehydrated and needed water, someone is heard telling him, "The hospital has water."
EMS arrived and an ambulance transported him to the hospital, a ride that took about 5 to 12 minutes, according to police and fire records. Sometime in that ride, he lost consciousness.
When Lowery arrived at the hospital, he was unresponsive. Hospital records didn't indicate any acute trauma, but his parents and friends said he ended up bloodied and bruised when they saw him at the hospital. He did not have those injuries in the Facebook video.
He was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of Monday, Jan. 7.
His death sparked outrage and protests in Paterson, with calls growing for an investigation into how he wound up bloodied, bruised and unresponsive at the hospital.
Local
But authorities are looking into whether Lowery may have had bacterial meningitis, a highly contagious infection, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
A doctor who saw Lowery at the hospital told investigators those bruises and swelling were consistent with advanced meningitis, sources said.
