San Diego

The death of a man who was arrested at Physicians & Surgeons Hospital was caused by meningitis and sepsis caused by gunshot wounds to the mouth, an autopsy shows.

James Otis Leggett, 39, died Jan. 4 at the hospital after he had been arrested the day before and taken to County Jail.

Leggett had originally gone to the hospital after complaining of head and neck pains, vomiting and bleeding from the mouth. Hospital officials called police when he tried to hit a doctor and cursed at several nurses.

Police arrived and arrested Leggett on four outstanding drug warrants, including felony possession of narcotics, and took him to County Jail, but they returned him to the hospital after medical officials at the jail determined he was too ill to be treated there.

The autopsy found that the meningitis and sepsis were caused by a gunshot wound suffered Dec. 1 in Logan Heights.

“Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord,” Deputy Coroner Jerry Hillbrand said. “It doesn’t strike you down in your tracks; it’s an infection that starts in the body and develops over a period of time.”