ECPO: Man Commits Suicide in Police Custody

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio have announced that a 29-year-old male prisoner hanged himself to death in a cell in the Newark Police Department's  Green Street cellblock yesterday.

The inmate, Jason Lowther, of Newark, was found hanging in a cell during a check shortly after 5:30 pm. Lowther was transported to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6:17 pm. An autopsy was conducted earlier today and the death was ruled a suicide by the Regional State Medical Examiner's Office. Lowther had been arrested by Newark Police on narcotics charges and lodged in the cellblock early Saturday morning.

The matter is being investigated by the Essex County prosecutor's Major Crime Task Force and Professional Standards Bureau, along with the Newark Police Internal Affairs Bureau. The investigation is continuing according to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly of the Prosecutor's Homicide Unit.