It was 5 days before Daniel Chong’s holding cell door was opened, put there by the DEA, and he had to be rushed to the hospital for kidney failure. See, Chong had to drink his own urine just to survive because he had been forgotten about, so says the DEA.
Watch below:
The DEA has issued an apology to Chong, promising a full investigation:
DENVER POST – A college student picked up in a federal drug sweep in California was never arrested, never charged and should have been released. Instead, authorities say, he was forgotten in a holding cell for four days.
Without food, water or access to a toilet, Daniel Chong had to drink his own urine to survive and began hallucinating after three days because of a lack of nourishment, his lawyer said.
“He nearly died,” Eugene Iredale said. “If he had been there another 12 to 24 hours, he probably would have died.”
The top Drug Enforcement Administration agent in San Diego apologized Wednesday for Chong’s treatment and promised an investigation into how his agents could have forgotten about him.
Iredale said he intends to seek damages from the DEA, and may file a lawsuit against the government.
The incident stands out as one of the worst cases of its kind, said Thomas Beauclair, deputy director of the National Corrections Institute, a federal agency that provides training and technical assistance to corrections agencies.
So what the hell is going on over there at the DEA? A kid in their custody almost dies and gets ignored for 5 days with no food and no water? Seriously, major heads should roll over this one. I mean from management, all the way down to officers. This is criminal negligence and the lawyer should pursue every avenue at his disposal to guarantee this NEVER happens again to anyone else.
As for Chong, he should never have to work another day in his life. He should get one big fat settlement that puts him in the 1% forever.