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Subscribe to RSSDaniel Chong, a 23-year-old university student who was allegedly forgotten about in a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) holding cell for nearly five days. KNSD-TV's Tony Shin reports.
Daniel Chong, a San Diego student who was left in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell for nearly five days after he was allegedly forgotten about, has filed a claim for $20 million after what he described as his "life-altering" experience, NBC San Diego reported.
The 23-year-old told NBC San Diego that he was increasingly worried throughout the days he spent in a 5-foot-by-10-foot cell, and told how he drank his own urine to survive.
“They never came back, ignored all my cries and I still don’t know what happened,” he said. “I’m not sure how they could forget me.”
As NBC San Diego was first to report Saturday, the DEA confirmed its agents were investigating an incident in which a suspect, arrested Saturday, April 21, was detained at their office for several days and allegedly forgotten about.
DEA apologizes to student left for days in cell with no food or water
Chong's lawyers filed the claim Wednesday, and also asked the DEA provide evidence related to the incident. The DEA said it was investigating why the student was not released.
Chong said he was at a friend’s house in University City celebrating 4/20, a day many marijuana users set aside to smoke, when agents came inside and raided the residence. Chong was then taken to the DEA office in Kearny Mesa.
He said agents questioned him, and then told him he could go home. One agent even offered him a ride, Chong said. No criminal charges were filed against him.
But Chong did not go home that night. Instead, he was placed in a cell for five days without any human contact and was not given food or drink. In his desperation, he said he was forced to drink his own urine.
“I had to do what I had to do to survive ... I hallucinated by the third day,” Chong said. “I was completely insane.”
Chong said he lost roughly 15 pounds during the time he was alone.
His lawyer, Gene Iredale, confirmed that Chong ingested a powdery substance found inside the cell. Later testing revealed the substance was methamphetamine.
After days of being ignored, Chong said he tried to take his own life by breaking the glass from his spectacles with his teeth and then attempting to carve “Sorry mom” on his arm.
He said nurses also found pieces of glass in his throat, which led him to believe he ingested the pieces purposefully.
Chong said he could hear DEA employees and people in neighboring cells. He screamed to let them know he was there, but no one replied.
He kicked the door, but no one came to get him. By the time DEA officers found Chong in his cell Wednesday morning, he was completely incoherent, said Iredale.
“I didn’t think I would come out,” Chong said.
He said when employees discovered him in the cell that they looked confused and nervous. A DEA employee rode with him to the hospital, where they paid for Chong’s visit.
He spent three days in the intensive care unit at Sharp Hospital and his kidneys were close to failing.
“He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Iredale, who compared Chong’s experience to the torture suffered by inmates at in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq.
The incident also caused Chong to miss his midterms at UCSD. He said he does not know if he will return to school because his perspective on life has changed since his isolation.
San Diego defense attorney Gretchen Von Helms said Chong could get millions from a lawsuit.
"In all my years of practice, I've never heard of the DEA or any federal government employee simply forgetting about someone that they have in their care," she said.
"There has to be repercussions if people do not follow the safety and the care when they have a human being in their custody," she added.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has issued an apology to Chong.
DEA San Diego Acting Special Agent-In-Charge William R. Sherman said in a statement Wednesday that he was troubled by the treatment of Chong and extended his "deepest apologies" to him. He has ordered an extensive review of his office's policies and procedures.
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If we want to stop the greediness of huge amounts in frivolous lawsuits then we need to act reasonable in every area including when injustice is done. Was this young man treated unfairly, it would appear so. Does he deserve 20 million dollars, I don't believe so. there have been people paralized, who have sufered brain damage and liost limbs, or even loved ones who haven't won millions in accidents, car crashed or other events who deserved to be awarded.Yes he went through a very difficult time. But he didn't suffer any permanent physical damage. He was caught in a drug house associating with those taking drugs. He did in some small way contribute to the series of events that led up to the situation which cause this negative event. So even though he didn't ask for such an ugly event to happen, he did contribute partially by stepping onto the road that led to it. The consequences of our choices we'll never be able to control. But we can control our choices. When it comes down to compensation, his medical bills should be covered for the present and future while a reasonable amount of financial compensation be rewarded. However, certainly not in the millions. We need to be reasonable, hold those responsible to the full extent of the law and cap the rewards to the victim. Otherwise the message we project to society is, that we deserve to be rewarded with millions at any injury received acccidentally. Society usually is the one that ends up paying those funds in the end. Through passed on higher costs. We may be tired as a nation of people with so many not being held accountable, but we need to exercise prudence and not over rreact by shooting ourselves in the foot to see that others really get what is due them.After all, it's the lawyers who will walk away with the a huge chunk every time.
No. Society should pay. If it's too expensive for you, then society should abolish the DEA, or society should wake up and reign them in.
If I was this guy I would not ask for money..I would ask to speak with the president publicly to discuss Marijauna Prohibition ( A Beer summit without the brew(idont like alcohol))...and i would ask him the most humanistic questions that when answered you would know his answers to be true or false...his he using reason or maintaining a long standing lie.
The punishment must be big enough to affect change. A slap on the wrist does nothing! A smack across your face will get your attention. Twenty Million Dollars is the slap that will get some action !!!
All you who are ifavor of this guy getting 20 million for doing drugs must be pushers or users to.
Marijuana prohibition is a masterpiece in the art of brainwashing and YOU are living proof! get your head outta yourass.
Chance of a lifetime. Like winning mega millions. I'd take this over death in a cell anyday.
You won't get another chance like this again.
freedom or death
i want to be free to smoke...i want my tax money to go toward education not paying bullies to enforce archaic wrong headed law with gestapo tactics . does that sound like a irrational mind to you?
we are all drug users and some sense of the term....our brains produce drugs every second. Should we remove your heads?
If MJ was legal, they wouldn't have to raid every freaking house in America.
...and WTF... even if medical MJ is legal in California, they still raid your house.
win win for DEA....winning
Is a 20 million dollar settlement enough to destroy the DEA - a terrorist organization far more dangerous than Al - Qaida? I hope so. DEATH TO THE DEA!!!!
@ Wakehead "Most drug laws are just tools to imprison minorities."
Yes yes yes!! I seriously believe that by abolishing all drug laws and penalties and by taxing and monitoring drugs, literally all of our biggest problems will go away. Multiple studies have been done, books have been written, and in countries which have already done so, they have seen an increase in treatment and tax revenue. No Mexican gang wars, no minority crammed prisons, no more basically law abiding citizens who just like to enjoy themselves every now and then being forced into dangerous situations to get drugs and being penalized. Let's stop this ridiculousness. IF YOU WANT TO DO DRUGS, you should be allowed to do drugs. Taxes up, violence down, and I truly believe it would stop over 90% of all violent crimes or theft crimes.
Yup. A simple solution for every complex problem.
$20 Million is a little absurd. What he went through was horrible and the DEA is at fault, but really, $20 Million? I understand Law Suits are there, so companies, people and so forth would think twice before committing the same mistake, either on purpose or not. I believe he should get enough to get a PhD, pain and suffering, like 2 to 5 Million and probably an extra 1 to 2 Mill. However, $20million is too much.
And, Yes, what the DEA did was wrong, but how can we be so sure it was not a horrible mistake on their part? Or have we forgot that everyone makes mistakes from time to time and no one is perfect. Instead of focusing on the money, we should be focusing on ways to close up this problem, so it would never happen again.
20 million is to much, think of it this way you have a car for sale the price you have in the window is five thousand dollars. When someone bites and says I'll give you forty five hundred you break down and sell it to him. You always make the price higher than you really want that way the buyer thinks he is getting a good deal..
Good point. I didn't see it that way.
Yes give him 20M to do more drugs with, hopefully will end up dead away from the drug use.
you can't die using pot
You can if you are left in a cell with no food, water, or human contact!
What's even more amazing is that on this vine there are those that excuse the DEA and say things like accidents will happen and so on. Those are the folks that are even more scary than the DEA. They are like the North Koreans or the Chinese who believe that treating people like animals is fine. Only the farthest of the right wing could possible condone this.
Only the farthest of the right wing could possible condone this.
Nice generalization. Not exactly making it hard to figure out where you're coming from. People like you ARE the problem in this country. "My way is right, the other side is totally wrong, doesn't matter what they think."
I agree with William-- it doesn't matter to me what you think, if you are in favor of conveniently forgetting how the government treated this man. Sometimes there's such a thing as right and wrong.
Eric,
I'm not trying to make it hard to understand where I'm coming from if it is difficult for you I understand. I'm on the side of justice, fairness and following the law, what side are you on?
William and Jacob, I believe Eric was protesting your inaccurate portrayal of the trolls on here as "right wing", not condoning torture. Frankly, I'm sick of the constant need to politicize these stories and villify the other guy. You want to make a political statement, vote, otherwise, stay on topic.
BTW, William, I can't resist pointing this out: your examples are all leftist gov'ts. Just sayin'......
I call B***Sh*t on $$$20M.....Total BS!!!!!
Oh cry me a phuckin river. Let us all know how that 20 mil payday for you and your attorney works out.
Government is not getting less arrogant, but MORE arrogant across this nation. And I fear it can only end in something disastrous. The People will not put up with tyranny forever.There is a point beyond which people figure they have nothing left to lose and they take action to restore their fundamental liberties. This is the lesson of history, repeated over and over again, nation by nation, throughout recorded human history.
Where will YOU be in all this?
I urge you to stay safe
Reefer Madness !
When is this insane drug war going to end. How many lives have to be lost or ruined before the government finally admits the cure is worse than the disease.
The abuse of power runs rampant in all government agencies. This incident is only a glimpse into much larger issues; we face both here and abroad. I say, let's pay this kid, re-examine our policies and really hold our government officials accountable.
Why do you think so many people from other countries really dislike the good old USA? It's our arrogance in power and misuse of it.
I love this country, but I hate the power machine that has been running it for the past 50 years or so, and we, for some reason, as voters have not been able to come together in a non partisan manner to fix it.
Drum.. we are ruled now by Policies and Procedures instead of Laws and Rights.
I am new to this but I must say, something is lacking in this odd news report as it just doesn't add up.
I was appalled when I started reading about this man's neglect while in custody, how awful.
The DEA has not apologized.
The DEA has apologized.
Ummm...
I scrolled back up the screen. I read it correctly.
This is a news source for people. I believe people get paid to provide us the facts, otherwise this becomes just a "story" we read and not a news report. The credibility of this story was muddied at that point for me.
That's $3472 per second.
Easily twice what it's worth...........but the lawyers have to profit on this guy's misery.
I don't think you understand the concept of punitive damages. Has nothing to do with actual damages.
First off - we don't REALLY know if he was intentionally left in said cell or not. There's no test for intentions and they're almost impossible to prove. Even had they left this guy in said cell "to rot", do you REALLY expect someone to step up and say "Yeah, we knew he was there. He didn't tell us what we wanted to hear, so F--k him, let him rot there."?
If you do, you really do live in Fantasy Land.
Water boarding isn't torture, there's peace in the middle east, and gasoline is $1.25/gallon too.
I think this guy is asking too little. I'd have started my suit at $10 billion, and every settlement offered below I'd raise my price. I'd sue the DEA right straight out of business over this.
But you are likely on welfare so it will not come out of your pocket.
@Mike:
Sorry, no public assistance here. Work 50-70 hours a week, wife works 40-60. I've nearly completed my PhD in Physics, she'll complete her MBA in 7 months. So put your ballcap back on, hop in your pickup truck and head out to "them thar hills" where you belong.
People wrongly convicted spend twenty years and do not recieve 20 million. This punk deserves nothing more than a ticket back to his own country. Welcome to the real world crybaby!!
Is this clown serious? They did not run him naked down through a gauntlet of barking dogs. They did not put him on a dog lease and make him walk naked. No comparison I can see.
Personal responsibility would say if he was not smoking pot and doing meth then he would not have been in this situation to begin with. Obviously, the DEA screwed up and forgot about him. Agents responsible need to be disciplined. He should be given some compensation but something realistic like $20,000. No way this is even near 20 million. People who are crippled from on the job accidents for longer time and some of them are permanent injuries rarely get more than $50,000 so why should a drug user who was mildly injured in a DEA on the job accident be entitled to a lottery payday? He will only buy drugs with it anyway. He has had more harrowing experiences from his drug use.
Why is it everyone wants a bigger than life fortune for anything they might suffer? We need tort reform to reel these out of balance lawsuits that get passed on to the taxpayers. Even in private business the costs of crazy big lawsuits gets passed to the consumers. People we need to just say no to lottery style lawsuits. We need fair compensation to the victim but also need to be fair to the defendant. Tort reform now.
Dream on, dopie.
I think Chen Guangcheng would be more than happy to trade places with him and forget the law suite. We don't have even half the story here-just MSNBC's. Zimmerman was ALL BAD at first too. But the guy will walk. With all the egg the libs have on their faces over that one you would thing they would learn to wait for the whole story before snapping to conclusions.
"He said he does not know if he will return to school because his perspective on life has changed since his isolation."
Of course not ... He's thinking about the 20 million dollars he's going to get. Ok, maybe $10 million after the lawyers get their cut.
That $10 million will buy that punk a lot of pot ...
I say, give him $100,000 ... That's plenty.
20 million isn't enough for his treatment. This out of control agency, with the mentality of several federal agencies, deserves to pay much more, have employees fired - not put on some paid administrative leave - and then have those responsible arrested on torture/abuse charges. dear God, what has happened to us?
Obviously you must not pay taxes or you might be concerned about giving away dollars to drug users.
we all pay taxes..I'd rather cut the DEA budget and grow,tax,and regulate the plant.
"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country."
- Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President quote on Hem
Yeah somebody screwed up, the people directly responsible should be held accountable and the poor kid needs to be a little more compensation than an apology. But sorry he lost my sympathy with the $20m lawsuit. Just like so many other legitimate victims, you involve lawyers and suddenly it's not about right or wrong it's about how much cash can I get. I hate to break it to you guys but changing the process to make sure it can't happen again will do more than leaving things as is and creating one more whiny millionaire.
20 million not a @!$%#ing chance!
This man has no case, NONE.
Why because Obama just signed a Defense Funding Bill on 1/1/12 which allows the federal government to detain US citizens without charging them.
That means Obama signed a law that takes away the rights of everyone in the US.
Don't believe me research it quick and painless.
What's a five days of an illicit drug users life worth? hat's right nada, nothing, zero. If anything they protected the community from this individual for five days. Offer him free rehabilitation and call it good. Either that or give him an ounce of meth and a pack of needles and tell him to have a good time until he dies.