New Jersey man who begged cops for help died from bath salts

The man who died two days after walking into a Paterson, NJ, police station begging for water reportedly suffered a fatal reaction caused by taking bath salts coupled with his preexisting medical conditions.

The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office made the announcement Monday, citing an official ruling from the county medical examiner’s office that 27-year-old Jameek Lowery’s death was caused by a medical event — not police force, according to NJ.com.

Lowery’s drug use and preexisting medical conditions “triggered an adverse physical reaction including multiple organ failure and cardiac arrest that ultimately led to his death,” the prosecutor’s office said in a release obtained by the news site.

“This reaction was occurring during the police and medical personnel’s interaction with Mr. Lowery and was independent of and unrelated to any force utilized.”

Lowery, of Patterson, livestreamed himself on Facebook while hallucinating in the precinct last January and begging officers to help him.

“I’m just paranoid,” Lowery says in the recorded video. “I just need some water.”

The officers can be seen standing in the lobby, trying to assess the situation.

“All right, the hospital has water,” one of the officers can be heard saying in the video.

Lowery was taken to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, where he was placed on life support. He died two days later.

His death sparked protests in the streets of Paterson, as crowds at the time demanded answers on how Lowery died.