'Paranoid' New Jersey man who died may have had meningitis

PATERSON, N.J. (FOX 5 NY) - The New Jersey State Health Department and the Paterson mayor's office are urging anyone who may have come in contact with the man who live-streamed a frantic video from a police station and later died to go to the hospital immediately. Doctors suspect that Jameek Lowery, 27, may have had meningitis, an extremely contagious infection.

It all started early Saturday morning. The Passaic County Prosecutor said Lowery called 911 claiming he took an excessive amount of ecstasy. He was taken to St. Joe's Hospital but left. An hour later, he showed up at the Paterson Police Department.

He live-streamed from there, begging police for water and saying that he had taken ecstasy.

"I'm just paranoid," Lowery said on the video. "I'm just paranoid. That's it." 

Lowery was taken back to the hospital unresponsive. The Prosecutor's Office said police used physical force and compliance holds to secure Lowery.

The hospital records don't show acute trauma but doctors noticed something else. Lowery might have had invasive bacterial meningitis. The laboratory tests are still pending. But it is cause for major concern.

Dr. Suraj Saggar, the chief of infectious disease at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck told Fox 5 that bacterial meningitis is spread through close and intimate contact. He said that 15 percent of patients die within 12 hours of the infection becoming invasive.

You should look out for these signs: fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and confusion. Dr. Saggar said some people exhibit irrational, odd behavior people.

Fox 5 spoke briefly with Paterson police. An officer said the Prosecutor's Office is investigating Lowery's death.