Posted on 07/31/2013 2:11:42 PM PDT by bestintxas
The Justice Department has agreed to pay $4.1 million to a California college student left in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell last year, according to two people familiar with the case.
Daniel Chong was detained in an April 2012 drug raid in San Diego and left in a windowless holding cell for four days without food or water. He says he drank his own urine to stay alive.
The people familiar with the case spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the settlement before it is officially announced. His attorney filed a $20 million claim against the government last year.
A DEA spokesman, Rusty Payne, referred questions Monday to the Justice Department, which handled settlement negotiations. A call to the Justice Department's public affairs office was not returned. Chong, who was attending University of California, San Diego, was at a friend's house in April 2012 when a DEA raid netted 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons. Chong and eight others were taken into custody.
Agents told Chong he would not be charged and had him wait in the 5-by-10-foot cell at DEA offices in San Diego. The door did not reopen for four days, when agents found him severely dehydrated and covered in his own feces.
Chong said he began to hallucinate on the third day. He urinated on a metal bench to drink his urine. He stacked a blanket, his pants and shoes on the bench and tried to reach an overhead fire sprinkler, futilely swatting at it with his cuffed hands to set it off.
Chong said last year that he gave up and accepted death. He bit into his eyeglasses to break them. He said he
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Anyone fired?
The $4 million isn’t DEA’s money. They don’t care.
Someone needs to be fired.
Perhaps criminal charges against those who left him there. “False Imprisonment.” $4M from taxpayers, or more precisely, printed up by the FedBank does not actually punish the people who committed this act. It rewards the victim, but does not address the uniformed perps.
$4 million is excessive by a lot.
The government needs to pay less and the DEA agents responsible need to pay a lot, lot more. Although I would be tempted to take the cash, I hope I would be able to demand a few badges in my hand with the agents permanently lose their jobs and any chance to work in any law enforcement.
Okay, so how much do YOU think being left to die of thirst, handcuffed in a pile of your own soil, is worth?
If this happens to me, I want someone fired. For compensation, I’ll settle for a gift card for Applebee’s. But I want someone fired.
Budget? WhAAAT Budget!
WE DON GOT TO SHOW YOU NO STINKIN BUDGET!
Not really. He ended up with kidney problems and a perforated esophagus. He’ll be dealing with it the rest of his possibly abbreviated life. Seems fair to me.
The only unfair part is the knuckleheads who left him there aren’t paying for it out of their pensions.
Hell I’d do it for 4 grand.
Maybe several gift cards to Applebee’s. lol
I’ve been five days without anything at all to drink. By the fourth day, I was contemplating killing myself. In my case, it was my own stupidity that got me into that situation - but if it had been caused by somebody else - I actually think serious compensation is justified. And I rarely do.
</law_and_order_Freeper>
Those who complain of the 4 million dollars do not realize that he may get $100,000 if he is lucky.
The Lawyers will get their third, plus expenses, and the tax folks will get a big chunk.
He will be lucky if left enough to take his girlfriend to a really good restaurant.
And how much is given to the families of the old guys reaching for the TV remote who were blasted to bits, along with the dog, by cops at the ‘wrong’ house?
"Three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, three weeks without food."
(Obviously, these numbers are modified by conditions - especially the second, the shelter number reflects the environments that survival situations tend to occur in).
Most people have been thirsty in their lives. Most people have been really thirsty. I think that makes them think they understand what it is like to be dying of thirst. It doesn't even come close. This is a hellish situation to be in. I've been there. In my case, it was my fault. If somebody else had done this to me - and if a government violating my rights had done it to me...
Years ago a friend of mine was arrested for drunk driving and managed to lose his front teeth in the process.
I asked him how it happened. He said “I was kicking the barrier between the front a back seats and telling him to pull over so I could kick his ass. He decided to let me give it a shot.” LOL
Lawyers may get some, but I do not think it will be taxable to the victim.
In this case the award is tax-free. I’m sure his lawyers will get a good chunk, but he’s not going to do too bad out of the deal.
I too am offended that the cops pull another “no harm, no foul” bit. But there was harm.
The article makes It sound like it was a f-up and not intentional. Anyone know the whole story?
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