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Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: ruby123 on July 31, 2013, 04:43 am

Title: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: ruby123 on July 31, 2013, 04:43 am
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jul/30/daniel-chong-ucsd-case-settlement/

Daniel Chong, the self-confessed pot smoker who was caught up in a drug sweep last year and nearly died after federal agents inadvertently abandoned him in a holding cell for five days without food or water, is now a millionaire.

Attorney Eugene Iredale announced Tuesday he reached a $4.1 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, without even filing a lawsuit.

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

The incident made headlines across the globe and sparked a debate about drug policies in the United States.

In addition to the cash payment, the lawyer said federal officials agreed to adopt new detainee procedures designed to make sure no one is left unwittingly in a holding cell again.

Iredale said he also was told the temporary lockups inside the San Diego office have been equipped with cameras to allow agents to view what happens inside.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which paid the settlement and absorbed all other liability from the local police agencies assisting in the sweep, declined Tuesday to discuss the events or the multimillion-dollar payment.

The harrowing experience for Chong, 25, an engineering major at UC San Diego, began on a Friday night in 2012, when he admittedly went to some friends’ house in University City to celebrate April 20, a special date for marijuana users.

Chong didn’t know it at the time, but the home had been under surveillance by a federal narcotics task force.

Drug agents executed a search warrant early in the morning of April 21, Among other things, they found 18,000 ecstasy pills, marijuana and several weapons in the residence, according to court papers.

The agents also found Chong sleeping on a couch in the front room and transported him and six others to the San Diego field office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for follow-up interviews.

Chong said he answered all of the agents’ questions and they agreed to send him home without criminal charges. But instead he was returned to a temporary holding cell, where he spent the next four days without food or water. During the final two days of the ordeal, Chong was in complete darkness, he said.

He has said he became delirious, drank his own urine, ate the broken shards of his glasses and used the glass to cut the message “sorry mom” in his own forearm.

He said he kicked the door and screamed for help but agents never came to his assistance. DEA agents admitted later they “accidentally” left Chong in the cell and took the unusual step of apologizing publicly to the UCSD student.

“When they finally opened the door, I was happy,” Chong said Tuesday. “I thought maybe they were going to take me to a mental ward. I was screaming.”

Chong spent five days at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa before he was able to return home.

Although his lawyer said Chong still suffers from post-traumatic stress, Chong indicated he is doing better overall.
“I’m pretty much recovered by now,” he said. “My kidneys are doing well. I can’t assume it was deliberate. I think it was what it sounded like — a really horrible accident.”

Also, Chong said, he has changed his major — to economics.

According to Iredale, the $4.1 million payout is not taxable. Under existing law, he also said, attorney fees are capped at 20 percent, so Chong will keep $3.28 million.

Asked what he will do with the money, Chong said, “The given is buying a home for my family, but after that I’ll put it away.”

Findings of an investigation of the case by the Office of the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Justice have not been released.

Iredale said federal investigators told him they do not plan to pursue criminal charges against any of the agents involved in the task force. Iredale singled out for the first time a San Diego Police Department officer who was the last person to see Chong before the cell was locked.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Iredale quoted the officer as telling Chong.

Iredale said the federal government is stepping forward “to cover the malefactions of the San Diego Police Department.”

A San Diego Police Department spokesman said the officer was under the command of the DEA at the time of the incident and declined to comment.
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: P2P on July 31, 2013, 04:55 am
This is a truly chilling story. Whether it was negligence or not, it is unforgivable in the context of a human life almost being taken (and in one of the worst ways at that). This could easily be equated to torture; I don't think anyone in the first world could even fathom what this is like. I doubt even terrorists are subject to such a slow, mentally-degrading trip to the brink of death.
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: entreterra on July 31, 2013, 05:00 am
Horribly criminal. That is just totally fucked. The guy wasn't even charged with anything and they just left him there. I realize he's getting millions, but those officers should be fired and in jail for YEARS. That is among the most inhumane shit you could do to a person, let alone a totally innocent one.
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: ShApEsHiFtInGsHaPeS on July 31, 2013, 09:36 am
right now at the DEA headquarter: "hurry up guys, we need more busts. 4.1 million don't earn themselves allone and daddy needs a new suv too"


pretty ironic that these guys have the nerve to call us criminals
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: dipset on July 31, 2013, 06:38 pm
It is terrifying to me that the "justice" system can take someone in like that and just forget about them so easily. It's worse than the old adage "lock them up and throw away the key" or whatever. This kind of negligence is unbelievable, almost. That DEA holding cell was most likely near or in the San Diego DEA offices. From what I understand, is that most DEA offices are located insides federal buildings. Many states may only have one federal building in the entire state. The point is, how big is this holding cell area, and building the cell was in, that an entire group of trained federal law enforcement officers can just "forget" about a human trapped inside, screaming for five whole days. There just seems to be no way that this could happen unintentionally. I mean that can't be, but how did this happen?       
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: isallmememe on July 31, 2013, 06:46 pm
still on the bright side, he won't be getting left alone much from now on.
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: Kiwikiikii on July 31, 2013, 09:13 pm
Who said crime doesnt pay.
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: hojo on July 31, 2013, 09:25 pm
I've gone longer than that in heroin withdraw with no food or water. I'd gladly not eat or drink for 5 days for a 3 million pay out. If i knew it was over after 5 days i wouldn't be drinking my own piss either but maybe i would tell my lawyer i did. Any cops want to falsely imprison me.....please?
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: isallmememe on July 31, 2013, 10:33 pm
I've gone longer than that in heroin withdraw with no food or water. I'd gladly not eat or drink for 5 days for a 3 million pay out. If i knew it was over after 5 days i wouldn't be drinking my own piss either but maybe i would tell my lawyer i did. Any cops want to falsely imprison me.....please?

exactly what i was thinking
Title: Re: DEA settles college student left-in-cell case for $4M
Post by: kmfkewm on August 01, 2013, 03:21 am
I've gone longer than that in heroin withdraw with no food or water. I'd gladly not eat or drink for 5 days for a 3 million pay out. If i knew it was over after 5 days i wouldn't be drinking my own piss either but maybe i would tell my lawyer i did. Any cops want to falsely imprison me.....please?

you have a very significant chance of dying if you don't drink for 5 days