UC San Diego Student's Life Ruined by DEA after they forgot about him for 5 days!

[Created4]

DEA apologizes to student left for days in cell with no food or water

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...-or-water?lite

Daniel Chong, the UC San Diego student who was left in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell for nearly five days, said the time spent there was a life-altering experience. On Wednesday, the DEA apologized for the incident.

The 23-year-old spoke with NBCSanDiego and said he was increasingly worried throughout the days he spent in a 5-foot by 10-foot cell. “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.”

n a statement, DEA San Diego Acting Special Agent-In-Charge William R. Sherman said he was troubled by Chong's treatment and extended his "deepest apologies" to him, The Associated Press reported.

Sherman said the event is not indicative of the high standards to which he holds his employees, AP said. He said he has personally ordered an extensive review of his office's policies and procedures.

NBCSanDiego was first to report Saturday that the DEA confirmed its agents were investigating an incident in which a suspect, arrested April 21, was detained at their office for several days and allegedly forgotten about.

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.”

He spent three days in the intensive care unit at Sharp Hospital and his kidneys were close to failing.

Chong and his lawyer spoke to the media on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the claim they will file with the federal court system on Wednesday.
“He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said his lawyer Gene 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, as his perspective on life has changed since his isolation.

San Diego defense attorney Gretchen Von Helms said the victim could get millions if he files 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."

[Bern]

Yea war on drugs!

[Created4]

I'm glad mainstream media is covering this, and hopefully it can draw some attention to "war on drugs" in general and the many more who suffer and have their lives destroyed because of it.

[phill4paul]

"Just doing our job, Ma'am"

[fisharmor]

"There has to be repercussions if people do not follow the safety and the care when they have a human being in their custody."

This woman is a lawyer, with this grammar?
I, for one, would not trust such a suit to a woman whose attention to detail mirrors that of the DEA's jail system employees.

[jkr]

yes, we MUST follow the safe T and da care...

i hope he end up OWNING San Diego

[Brian4Liberty]

In a statement, DEA San Diego Acting Special Agent-In-Charge William R. Sherman said he was troubled by Chong's treatment and extended his "deepest apologies" to him, The Associated Press reported.

Sherman said the event is not indicative of the high standards to which he holds his employees, AP said. He said he has personally ordered an extensive review of his office's policies and procedures.

It's gross incompetence. Heads need to roll.

[helmuth_hubener]

I was recently locked in a cell by goons like this (not drug war goons, just generic goons) for part of one day, all of another, and part of a third with no food and no water. There was a toilet-sink thing in the cell but they turned off the water to it. Not even close to as bad as this, but still, I wonder if anything bad was happening to my kidneys by the end. It was around 50 hours in total. Probably not, I felt fine, had a nice hard run across town once they finally tired of caging me.

[AcousticFoodie]

Crazzzyyyyy!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/0...ne-to-survive/

[DerailingDaTrain]

In before azxd ruins this thread by calling the kid an idiot and siding with the cops.

[Lucille]

I find it impossible to believe that they didn't hear him. He could hear them!

[Anti Federalist]

I find it impossible to believe that they didn't hear him. He could hear them!

Just a few bad apples.

[TomtheTinker]

This woman is a lawyer, with this grammar?
I, for one, would not trust such a suit to a woman whose attention to detail mirrors that of the DEA's jail system employees.

out of everything in op..this is what you decide to post about..grammar. Are you an english teacher?

[phill4paul]

I was recently locked in a cell by goons like this (not drug war goons, just generic goons) for part of one day, all of another, and part of a third with no food and no water. There was a toilet-sink thing in the cell but they turned off the water to it. Not even close to as bad as this, but still, I wonder if anything bad was happening to my kidneys by the end. It was around 50 hours in total. Probably not, I felt fine, had a nice hard run across town once they finally tired of caging me.

A 4X6 is marginally preferential to a 2X6 if neither is endured for great lengths of time. Glad you're now on the other side.

[kcchiefs6465]

There was once a time a story like this would shock me. I suppose I would have been a little shocked had he died.

[jmdrake]

This story is beyond crazy. And any guesses as to why they left the meth in his cell? And these perps aren't even going to apologize?

[phill4paul]

[Brian4Liberty]

He could hear them!

Is that in the story?

[GuerrillaXXI]

Apparently the DEA $#@!s apologized, but that is obviously not nearly enough. There should be a BIG $#@!ing lawsuit, and someone should go to jail for the negligence (at best) that was displayed here. When a person is in your custody, you take responsibility for his well-being, and there is NO excuse to screw up. (This is to say nothing of the illegitimacy of drug prohibition itself.)

[Thor]

Is that in the story?

Yes, the update. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/0...food-or-water/

Chong said he screamed and kicked the door, but to no avail. He said he could hear DEA workers walking around outside the cell.

[Lucille]

Is that in the story?

Not sure if this one reported it, but I read it on reason yesterday:

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.

ETA: Thor beat me by 3 min.!

[Danke]

Just a few bad apples.

They said they're sorry!

[dannno]

I was recently locked in a cell by goons like this (not drug war goons, just generic goons) for part of one day, all of another, and part of a third with no food and no water. There was a toilet-sink thing in the cell but they turned off the water to it. Not even close to as bad as this, but still, I wonder if anything bad was happening to my kidneys by the end. It was around 50 hours in total. Probably not, I felt fine, had a nice hard run across town once they finally tired of caging me.

Wow!! Glad you are ok..

[alucard13mmfmj]

a lot of people smoke weed in UCSD. the first place i lived at, 3 of my housemates smoked weed.

i tried weed 2-3 times.. but i never really understand why people smoke it. makes my mouth dry, makes me dizzy and want to sleep, makes me a little bit disoriented.

[kuckfeynes]

He's lucky to be alive. Another 24 hours and he probably would have been a statistical "suicide"...

[speciallyblend]

out of everything in op..this is what you decide to post about..grammar. Are you an english teacher?

yeah i hear ya, bad grammar doesn't cuase you to have to drink your own pee or held in isoaltion. grammar nazi's crack me up. kinda of a hugeeeeeeee leap to compare the 2, maybe he wants to start arresting folks for bad grammerssssss hehe, cuff'em danno. all the typos are for the grammar and speeling nazi's. kinda like pissing off grammar nazxi's for fun .

[kcchiefs6465]

yeah i hear ya, bad grammar doesn't cuase you to have to drink your own pee or held in isoaltion. grammar nazi's crack me up. kinda of a hugeeeeeeee leap to compare the 2, maybe he wants to start arresting folks for bad grammerssssss hehe, cuff'em danno. all the typos are for the grammar and speeling nazi's. kinda like pissing off grammar nazxi's for fun .

[Pericles]

He's lucky to be alive. Another 24 hours and he probably would have been a statistical "suicide"...

At least the Navy will let you out after 3 days, and give you bread and water - or so I've heard.

[KCIndy]

Obviously, our "heros" in the DEA did us all a big favor by stepping in and arresting this guy before he could become an even greater menace to society.

Here's an excerpt from a second news story about the DEA's little "oopsy!" of a mistake:



http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...149596435.html

The 24-year old UCSD engineering student was left in the cell for five days without food or water, seemingly forgotten by the federal authorities who detained him.

He was one of seven people detained after a Drug Enforcement Administration ecstasy raid in University City on April 21, according to a DEA statement.

"The individual was at the house by his own admission," the DEA confirmed Monday.

During the raid, authorities confiscated ecstasy, marijuana, prescription medication, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and a white powdery substance that was described as a synthetic hallucinogen. They also seized numerous weapons including a Russian rifle, handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

"Seven suspects were brought back to county detention." One was released, but "accidentally left in one of the cells," a statement from the DEA read.

The defendants were brought back to the DEA office after the raid and processed. The suspects were moved around the five cells at the detention facility during the proceeding. None were strip or body cavity searched, the DEA stated.

A law enforcement source told NBC 7 that the student was handcuffed and held in a room no larger than the average bathroom.

Sources say a worker at the DEA discovered the man by chance about five days later after hearing strange noises coming from the holding cells.

Any successful lawsuit filed against the DEA creeps should be paid out of the creeps' own pocket. Why punish the taxpayers? These guys ought to be on the hook for this near-fatal f***up for the rest of their lives if convicted, and if that means selling their personal vehicles, homes, and cashing in their retirement funds to make restitution, so much the better.

[John F Kennedy III]

It's gross incompetence. Heads need to roll.

Yes they do. The jury better give this guy every dime he sues for.