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 ...
They locked him in a holding room and forgot he was there. He’d been arrested at a friend’s apartment during a drugs raid, and after interview, it was accepted that he had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he was placed in the holding room pending release. Unfortunately, once the door was locked, nobody realised anybody was in there - because he hadn’t been charged with anything, there was no record he was still there, and people assumed he’d been released.
Being white, I will pass on any jail time.
Seems right to me. If I was innocent of any crime and left to rot for 4 days in jail due to incompetence I think $4 million would be about right - $1 million per day.
Pesonnally I would give all the money to charity if there were reprecussions for the jailers. But Feds can’t be touched.
If they gave me a toilet and running water, I’d do four days in a cell for 4 million, no problem. I guess if they gave you water and a toilet, you wouldn’t get a 4 million dollar settlement though :(
I have a question for you. When I went through survival school in the AF more than 20 years ago, the same mantra was used, and they stated that, when you had no water, the time to be afraid was when you no longer felt thirsty. Did this happen to you, did you ever not feel thirsty during your ordeal?
Regarding shelter, I know from reports that folks who were suffering from hypothermia often no longer felt cold, and actually removed clothing because they felt too warm.
Hate to say it, but why can’t I get this lucky? C’mon cops...I need a million...at least.
Nope....30 million is excessive....28 Million? No.
I'd have given him 10 million.......but then again, I'm not too fond of anything our govt. is doing to innocent people these days..........
especially the taxpayers
Yes, towards the end I no longer felt thirsty, but I was also starting to become fairly irrational at that point.
Apparently they almost killed him.
I hope heads rolled but they probably didn’t. Anyone associated with our Imperial Government seems to get a pass these days.
If they don't like it then they need to change it don't they?
My dad was an amphibious tank driver in WW2. He did the whole Pacific.
Of all the things he said were the worst, was 2 days without water and looking at sea water all around him.
He said it was the worst experience he ever endured, God rest his soul.
They might, if they were a majority. The majority don’t mind because they likely pay nothing anyway or even understand where this money comes from.
It would be also nice to know who and how many got terminated...
Not holding my breath...
Gotta disagree...
I think the government, err taxpayers, got off light...
innocent people in prison for YEARS get less in recompense
law_and_order_Freeper
I hate those f'n gauleiters in waiting more than I hate the jackboots.
I wouldn’t ask for a dollar of taxpayer money. Only that I get the entire life savings of those responsible, a guarantee that no government will ever hire them again and 4 days in the same cell.
We need HARSH punishments for incompetent and dirty cops. Right now they barely get a slap on the wrist. The worst that happens is the taxpayer picks up their tab.
NYPD detective gets community service for planting crack to meet felony quotas. You won’t see this in USA news: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095772/Cowboy-cop-Jason-Arbeeny-planted-crack-couples-car-seat-escapes-jail.html
ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I say give him $8 million. He had to drink his own urine, for cripes sake.
If this was a story about some American-killing camel-humper in Gitmo.... well, nuff said.
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