In April 2012, Daniel Chong's worst nightmare came true as he was left in a DEA holding cell for
five days without food or water:
Daniel Chong, 24, a UC San Diego senior, said he was swept up in a Drug Enforcement Administration raid near campus and was taken to the Kearny Mesa facility. After questioning, he was told he would be released.
Then the DEA left him locked inside a five-by-10-foot windowless cell.
He screamed. He kicked madly at the door. He cried like a baby.
Soon, Chong said, nothing made sense. He could hear agents chatting among themselves on the other side of the heavy door, and other detainees coming and going from holding tanks nearby.
Days crawled by. No food. No water. No bathroom. He remembers biting his eyeglasses and using the broken shards to scrawl a note onto his left arm.
Needless to say, upon his release, Daniel Chong filed suit against the DEA. Today, the government announced they
have reached a settlement:
The U.S. government will pay $4.1 million in response to a lawsuit filed against federal agents who forgot about a UC San Diego student left in a holding cell for days without food or water.
You can listen Audie Cornish's May 2012 interview with Daniel Chong
here.