Student Left in Cell for 4 Days Awarded $4.1 Million by Justice Department
Daniel Chong, 23, will receive $4.1 million from the Justice Department after being left in a holding cell for four days without food or water. Chong was detained after an April 2012 drug raid in which he was not charged.
"Due to Daniel's unfortunate experience, and the responsiveness and acceptance of responsibility by the federal government, it is his hope that what occurred to him will never happen again," Chong's attorney Eugene Iredale told CBS.
Chong was left in a 5-by-10 foot windowless cell for four days. He described urinating on a metal bench in order to drink the urine and stay alive. He was left handcuffed, limiting his movement and causing cramping in his arms. Chong began experiencing hallucinations and, at one point, feared that he was going to die.
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He bit his glasses to break them and used a shard to try and scratch "Sorry Mom" into his arm. Chong then attempted to eat the glass and wound up cutting his esophagus. He spent the last two days in complete darkness due to the lights going out.
When Drug Enforcement Agents finally returned to the cell, they found Chong in horrible condition. He was severely dehydrated, covered in his own feces, and hallucinating. Agents took him to a hospital where he was treated for dehydration, kidney failure, cramps, and a perforated esophagus; he reportedly lost 15 pounds during his incarceration.
The DEA said that Chong's case led to changes in the treatment of prisoners and now cameras have been installed in cells and guards conduct daily inspections. Chong settled with the Department of Justice for $4.1 million after filing a $20 million lawsuit.
"This was a mistake of unbelievable and unimaginable proportions," Julia Yoo, another of Chong's attorneys, told Gawker. "He changed his major from engineering to economics and wants to finish school, pursue his career and help take care of his mother."
