It’s been nearly a month, and the cause of death of Jameek Lowery, 27, remains a mystery.
Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes hasn’t said when official autopsy results for the Paterson, N.J. man will be made public, nor has the Lowery family released information on its own private autopsy, the Paterson Press reported.
Jameek Lowery allegedly suffered a broken cheekbone and fractured eye socket after stumbling into a New Jersey police station begging for help. (Image courtesy of Twitter / @Zellie)
On Jan. 5, Lowery recorded frantic video of himself stumbling into police headquarters begging for help and complaining of paranoia, saying everyone — including officers — were out to kill him. Hours later, the father of three was rushed to a local hospital, where he died just two days later.
“They try to kill me … he right there,” Lowery, who was bipolar, says in the video streamed on Facebook Live. “I’m just paranoid. That’s it. I’m not touching nobody. I swear to God.”
On Tuesday, officials at the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said it would review the prosecutor’s findings before releasing any information on Lowery’s death, noting that the oversight is standard protocol in such cases. Meanwhile, the attorneys hired by Lowery’s mother, Patrice King, said a medical review conducted by former New York City medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden won’t be complete until mid-March.
The family suspects Lowery was beaten by Paterson police officers, who transported him to a hospital after multiple 911 calls. Relatives said he suffered a broken cheekbone and a fractured eye socket — both of which remain unexplained.
Before going live on Facebook, Lowery called 911 around 2:45 that morning saying that he “had taken ecstasy and was paranoid,” a release from the prosecutor’s office revealed. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center at 3:04 a.m., but left after becoming “erratic.” It’s unclear whether he was released or left on his own accord.
Lowery would dial 911 again at 3:44 a.m., this time from a nearby Wendy’s. Minutes later, he walked into the police station in a state of confusion and paranoia.
At one point in his video, Lowery begs officers “not to shoot” him and later alludes to his own demise by saying, “if I die in an hour or two, they did it. I didn’t touch them at all.”
In the wake of his death, Valdes’ office said hospital records indicated Lowery suffered no “acute trauma,” but noted he had to be subdued by officers who “used physical force and compliance holds” to secure him in an ambulance. Officials, in varying accounts, said the drive to the hospital from the police station took between three and 12 minutes, but it is unknown how long Lowery was at the police station before being taken to the hospital.
As the wait for answers drags on, the Paterson Press reported that activists staged another protest at City Hall on Tuesday night. It marked the sixth rally since Lowery’s death on Jan. 7.
