Jose Pina Cardenas
Jose Cardenas, known to family as Nick, was 30 and grew up in Oakland. His family describes him as the father of five children, and the mother of his 4-year-old daughter said he was her main support. He died on June 7, 2022, at a hospital in Pleasanton, about three weeks after he was taken into Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, where his family says he choked on a plastic wristband in his cell and deputies did not check on him for 52 minutes. The sheriff's office has said he had been released from custody before he died and does not treat the death as in-custody, while the sheriff's coroner attributed it to complications of alcohol withdrawal, and his children's federal lawsuit calls the death preventable.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The sheriff's coroner attributed the death to complications of alcohol withdrawal, while his five children's federal lawsuit says he choked on a plastic wristband, developed pneumonia and sepsis, and deputies did not check on him for 52 minutes.
Reported by: Alameda County Sheriff's Office coroner's bureau (medical examiner or coroner); family's federal wrongful death lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His five children filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit over his death, calling it preventable.