Pubdate: Wed, 31 Jul 2013
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Tony Perry

U.S. TO PAY $4.1 MILLION TO STUDENT

Daniel Chong, 25, Was Mistakenly Left in a Locked Room at a DEA 
Facility for Five Days Without Food or Water.

SAN DIEGO - A college student mistakenly left in a Drug Enforcement 
Administration interrogation room for five days without food or water 
will receive $4.1 million from the federal government to settle his 
claim for maltreatment.

The settlement, approved by the Department of Justice, was announced 
Tuesday in San Diego by the student, Daniel Chong, 25, and his 
lawyer, Eugene Iredale.

"It was an accident, a really, really bad, horrible accident," Chong said.

Iredale said Chong has undergone intensive psychotherapy and been 
diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

What happened to Chong, Iredale said, "should never happen to any 
human being on the face of the planet."

The bizarre event began on the afternoon of April 20, 2012 - a 
traditional counterculture day of celebration for smoking pot. Chong, 
then an engineering student at UC San Diego, went to a house near 
campus to smoke marijuana with friends and found himself swept up in 
a DEA raid.

Officers from several police agencies raided the house and found 
large quantities of ecstasy pills and hallucinogenic mushrooms, plus 
weapons and ammunition, according to court documents. Unknown to 
Chong, the house had been under surveillance for days.

Chong and eight suspects were taken into custody for interrogation. 
After being questioned brief ly at the DEA facility in San Diego, he 
was told he would soon be released.

But, for reasons that remain unclear, Chong was left for five days in 
a 5-by-10-foot windowless room without food, water or toilet 
facilities. He quickly lost weight and was able to slip out of a pair 
of handcuffs.

He suffered hallucinations. He tried to break a fire sprinkler to get 
water but failed. Instead he said he had to drink his own urine to 
survive. He screamed for help but soon became too weak. For the final 
two days, Chong was in the dark, Iredale said.

Fearing that he would die, Chong broke his glasses and scrawled the 
message, "Sorry, mom," on his arm.

When he was discovered by DEA employees, Chong was covered in his own 
feces and severely dehydrated. He was rushed to a hospital, close to 
kidney failure and breathing with difficulty. He spent five days in 
the hospital.

The Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General is 
investigating the incident.

Several theories have been advanced on how Chong could have been 
forgotten. One is that the officer who questioned him that Friday 
afternoon was not from the DEA but another agency. When that officer 
left at day's end, he thought that someone else would release Chong.

The next two days were Saturday and Sunday, when fewer employees are 
on duty. By Monday, Chong's cries may have been too weak to be heard 
through the thick door of the interrogation cell, located down a 
narrow hallway and isolated from the rest of the DEA facility.

Chong said that he did not scream at first, believing that he would 
soon be released. "It seemed impossible for them to forget me," he said.

He remembers the shocked look on the faces of employees who finally 
opened the door and saw him, exhausted, starving, possibly near 
death. His body, he said, was shutting down.

Days later, a top DEA official apologized to Chong and ordered an 
"extensive review" of DEA procedures.

"I extend my deepest apologies [to] the young man and want to express 
that this event is not indicative of the high standards that I hold 
my employees to," said William R. Sherman, who was then acting 
special agent in charge of the DEA's San Diego Division.

No charges were filed against Chong. Iredale filed a claim with the 
agency, usually the first step toward a lawsuit. But in this case, 
officials immediately began negotiating a settlement and listened to 
a local psychologist who said that Chong was in worse shape than many 
combat veterans he has treated, Iredale said.

The DEA review of its procedures for interrogations is not yet 
complete, a spokesman for the agency said Friday.

Iredale said he is confident that the agency has taken steps to 
ensure that nothing similar happens at any of its 21 field stations. 
The government has "recognized the profound suffering that David 
underwent and the damages they caused."

Chong still receives therapy and has returned to finish his degree at 
UCSD. He has changed his major to economics. He said he is glad to 
have his life "back to normal."

Neither the DEA nor the Department of Justice had a comment on the settlement.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom