Protests against Paterson police shameful and misguided (Opinion)

More is beginning to come out in the Jameek Lowery case and it's already enough to prove what I had to say on the matter yesterday. Any protests against police in the case were unfairly jumping to conclusions.

Jameek died two days after contact with police. He had called 911 twice in the middle of the night he said because he had taken ecstasy and was paranoid. He was delusional and thinking unseen people were trying to kill him. He was first brought from his home to a hospital, where he became even more irate and irrational and chose to leave. Then he called 911 again and minutes later walked into police headquarters.

Police tried to help him. They talked to him, tried to reassure him there was no one after him, called for another ambulance. They used standard compliance holds on him in the ambulance according to authorities because he was so manic yet clearly needed to get back to the hospital. By the time he arrived he was unresponsive. Two days later he died. Protestors holding up Black Lives Matter signs took to the streets insisting the police had beaten him when there was zero evidence.

Now information is coming out that Jameek Lowery had been suffering from spinal meningitis for a long time. Doctors say he possibly had the serious infection for months if not years. They also have noted necrosis of the bowel, which causes blood flow to the intestines to stop. Police who dealt with him are now being put on high power antibiotics to safeguard them from the disease.

As I suspected, there was a lot more going on with Jameek Lowery that had nothing to do with the officers. The investigation continues. The toxicology report will take weeks to come in. But shame on those protestors for automatically assuming with no solid evidence that the police had beaten this man to death. They were doing their jobs, trying to help him. As a result they're now the ones in danger.

Ecstacy alone can be very dangerous. An overdose can cause dehydration, something he complained of that night, along with seizures and heart attacks. Imagine this combined with other compromised health problems due to a long-standing spinal meningitis infection. But no, let's all grab signs and scream in the streets with no valid proof of anything that the police were just out to harm a young black man. That's where we are in America today. And shame on anyone who put us there.

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