Daniel Chong Drank Urine To Survive 5 Days In Holding Cell Without Food, Water

Daniel Chong, seen here in an interview with NBC, was wrongfully imprisoned for 5 days without food or water.

Update: The Drug Enforcement Administration has apologized to Danny Chong after he spent five days in a holding cell without food, water or a toilet, the LA Times reported.

"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," William Sherman, special agent in charge of the San Diego division of the DEA, said in a statement. He added that he has ordered "an extensive review" of DEA procedures.

Earlier:

An innocent California student was placed in a holding cell after his buddy's house was raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and ended up spending nearly five days in his dark prison without food, water or human contact.

Danny Chong, 24, had been told that he was going to be released on April 20 -- the same day he was detained -- because he wasn't charged with any crime.

Officers reportedly forgot about him. He told NBC that he was forced to drink his own urine for hydration and ended up carving his own flesh with glass in a fit of psychosis.

"I had to do what I had to do to survive," he told the station on Tuesday. "I was completely insane."

Chong's horrific -- and accidental -- stay in the dark holding cell began on April 20, when agents raided a home that Chong where hanging out near UC San Diego. DEA officials said they found some 18,000 ecstasy pills at the home, but that Chong wasn't involved. He was brought in for questioning, but never formally arrested or charged, according to U-T San Diego.

He was supposed to leave his detention the same day. One officer even offered him a ride home.

But he was forgotten inside his 5-foot-by-10-foot, windowless enclosure.

He kicked, screamed and cried as the days passed. He could hear DEA agents on the other side of his heavy door, but they apparently couldn't hear him. He didn't have food, water or a bathroom.

At one point Chong went so "insane" he broke his glasses with his teeth and carved "Sorry Mom" into his arm.

By day five -- when corrections officers finally heard Chong's screams for help -- he'd been hallucinating and even attempted to eat broken glass, NBC reported.

When agents finally found Chong, he was incoherent and had to be taken to the hospital, according to the Associated Press. He was treated for a perforated lung -- an injury consistent with someone who has eaten glass.

The student's lawyer compared his detention to the famous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Chong is considering filing a civil lawsuit against the DEA.

The DEA maintains that the incident was accidental and isolated, but hasn't elaborated.

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Comments

[WashingtonDCsucks]

01:43 AM on 05/24/2012

Business as usual for the profit prison system.

Since the jails are run by traitors and psychopaths what else could possibly be expected.

[Matthew Matthias Lee]

11:36 PM on 05/18/2012

critical analysis, please before you ignorantly say something. First of all, he is being given too much slack, he went to an apartment home inhabited by drug dealers knowingly on 4/20, infamous to many pot smokers. He's lucky that he didn't get a misdemeanor charge, because he smoked his marijuana, and didn't have any on him. Also, if you can hear what's going on outside, i'm definitely sure that you can hear what's going on from the inside. " He could hear DEA agents on the other side of his heavy door,"by the 5th day you would have to be so fatigued from not having any nutrients, you wouldn't have the energy to generate a ruckus as loud as the first few days. I suspect that he had a guilty conscience of doing other unethical things, and didn't make any noise, until he realized "oh shoot, i wanna get out of here." As for the DEA agents, it's a very big mistake on their part to not provide him food or water, or remember that he was in the holding cell.

[WashingtonDCsucks]

01:40 AM on 05/24/2012

Leave America, you don't even understand the basic idea of freedom. You would be MUCH happier in Saudi arabia.

[Matthew Matthias Lee]

02:27 PM on 05/24/2012

your comment has nothing to do with what i just said...

[ShaunP]

02:23 PM on 09/28/2012

Oh my god buddy, did you write this from your own cell, that's padded?

[LaoShur]

01:32 AM on 05/07/2012

It's a damn good thing this didn't happen in China...or we'd NEVER hear the end of the whining from the Repubs about human rights violations from the Chinese government, because in America when WE violate someone's human rights it's to protect freedom and democracy!

[Quarlo]

09:44 PM on 05/06/2012

So was NOBODY held accountable? Just an "Oops. Our bad." and that's it?

[awaugh1775]

01:04 PM on 05/04/2012

This article was changed! It said he was at the house on 4/20 participating in the "counterculture" of smoking marijuana and then he stayed the night. I think my comment earlier on this made them change it. I said that it is counterculture for prohibition of marijuana to even exist. It was made illegal under two pretenses: 1.Protecting the lumber and coal industry from what was potentially (and is) their downfall (hemp) and 2.Racial discrimination against illegal Mexican immigrants bringing in crop. Legalize it already!

[Felix Remigio]

10:40 AM on 05/04/2012

Chinese dissident Chen has gotten overall better treatment in China than this College Student did in 5-days with the DEA. "TOTALLY DISGUSTING!!!". Oh, yes...Secy State Hillary Clinton is trying to walk a fine line with the Chinese authorities in preaching to them about, "HUMAN RIGHTS!!!". The U.S. government should make a swap with the Chinese like back in the Cold War Era when the U.S. and U.S.S.R. exchanged spies. These DEA agents for Dissident Chen!!!

[scholasticus]

09:56 AM on 05/04/2012

In another few days the jail staff would have smelled a problem. Could easily have been fatal.

[PerryWhite]

08:31 AM on 05/04/2012

This won't happen if Obama is elected President.

[Kris Bissell]

09:20 PM on 05/03/2012

He should be getting millions from this so called "government" they speak of.

[montanasian]

08:29 PM on 05/03/2012

Oh ya, is this another government run department and we want bigger government? Can anyone say postal service or social security?
"Big government we want more, secret service hires the W#()r3$, of course they forget to pay, and the rest of get laid"

[scholasticus]

09:51 AM on 05/04/2012

I see now, the Republicants want to abolish the post office AND social security. We shall have a few GOP billionaires in palaces ruling 300 million serfs living in sod huts.

[Tomas v]

12:30 AM on 05/17/2012

I'm no Republican and I want to abolish the post office and social security. As a friendly suggestion, maybe you should take the time to read up on WHY people want to abolish them. Sounds heartless, but it makes sense. Sometimes you just have to put your party aside and vote for what's right. Because honestly, there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats. Look at Obama. How many wars are we in now? Didn't the Democrats hate Bush because of his war mongering?

[Tomas v]

12:37 AM on 05/17/2012

Um, I'm not a Republican and I want to abolish the post office and social security. As a friendly suggestion, you may want to read up on why we should get rid of them.
It sounds heartless, but when you take the time to understand... it makes perfect sense. It's nice to play "us vs them"... but sometimes you just have to put your party aside and make decisions based on common sense. I voted for Obama last time.. I think I'll go third party this time around. Someone who's smart and not just a puppet.

[Clyde George]

05:37 PM on 05/03/2012

I can't figure out why he was ever put in a cell to begin with. They said he was never charged and was in fact never even arrested. Who decided to put him in a cell? That decision makes no sense. He should have been free to leave if he wasn't even arrested. The way it stands now, it looks like the DEA just DETAINED the guy for 5 freakin days. That's even longer than a person can be held without being charged. Numerous heads need to roll for this.

A civil suit should be the least of their worries. If a jury hears this case, I wouldn't be suprised if they award this guy at least 5 to 6 million in actual damages alone. The guy was held so long, his kidney's had already started failing him, that's some serious physical damage. They're lucky he didn't die.

[scholasticus]

09:52 AM on 05/04/2012

Habeas Corpus is a thing of the past my friend. The Emperor's word is the law now.

[Vardi]

01:40 PM on 05/04/2012

he will get 20mil

[William A]

05:23 PM on 05/03/2012

Attempted murder. Negligent or not.

[jbeachboy32]

03:36 PM on 05/03/2012

anyone know how much money someone would get in such a case in a lawsuit?

[Vardi]

01:41 PM on 05/04/2012

carries a 20mil max, which he will get every penny

[jbeachboy32]

08:45 PM on 05/05/2012

yeah right, no freakin way he gets 20 million from it

[mopman50]

03:34 PM on 05/03/2012

There is no way they did not here for his sceams of help and pain, if he could hear them then by god they should of been able to hear his pounding and plea's for help...... What has this once great country come to?

[Roedy]

03:08 PM on 05/03/2012

I had a similar experience being held without food or water for 3 or 4 days. I would far sooner be eaten by tigers than repeat the experience. $20 million in compensation is an insult. It was so horrible I begged to be killed. There is no way you can remotely imagine how ghastly that is.