Antoine Emel Dewhitt
Antoine Emel Dewhitt, 40, was an Oakland native who played drums for his church and built makeshift toys, a tree swing and a basketball hoop for people around him, and his daughter Akayla, his girlfriend Latida Daniels and his sisters survive him. He had a medical emergency at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in mid-April 2026 and was taken to the hospital twice that day. The jail released him while he was still being treated, and he died in a hospital on May 9, 2026. His sister, Antoinette Staples, says the death certificate lists complications of an overdose from an excessive amount of fentanyl, and the family says they have received little clarity about what happened to him. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office initially did not count his death among in-custody deaths.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of an overdose. His sister, Antoinette Staples, says he died from complications of an overdose, and the death certificate showed he had taken an excessive amount of fentanyl.
Reported by: his sister, Antoinette Staples (family or their lawyers).