US workers encountered man left in cell for days

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

US workers encountered man left in cell for days

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press | July 9, 2014 | Updated: July 9, 2014 2:42am

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Four U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration employees saw or heard a handcuffed San Diego student locked in a cell for five days without food or water, but did nothing because they assumed someone else was responsible, investigators said Tuesday.

The Justice Department's inspector general faulted several DEA employees for their handling of the April 2012 incident that left Daniel Chong in grave physical health, cost the agency a $4.1 million settlement and led to nationwide changes in the agency's detention policies.

The employees told investigators they found nothing unusual in their encounters with Chong and assumed whoever put him in the cell would return for him shortly. Chong, then 23, ingested methamphetamine, drank his own urine to survive and cut himself with broken glasses while he was held.

A three-page summary of the investigation does not say when the four employees encountered Chong or what they heard or saw, and the DEA wouldn't elaborate. The agency declined to say if any employees faced consequences, calling it an "ongoing internal disciplinary matter."

Chong was handcuffed behind his back without access to a toilet. He has said he slid a shoelace under the door and screamed for attention before he was found covered in his feces. He said he used a shard from his broken glasses to try to carve a "Sorry Mom" farewell message on his arm but only managed to finish an "S."


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/US-workers-encountered-man-left-in-cell-for-days-5608539.php

[sakabatou]

1. O.O

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Thugs don't care about people, only drug money; even those wearing a badge.

Most cops aren't thugs. But too many of them are. There is too much RICO drug money incentive for local cops and the DEA is complicit.

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Goof cops know who the bad cops are

and do nothing, thus are bad cops.

[Lenomsky]

3. Lucky guy ...

5 days is borderline he could well have die of thirst however $4.1 million and no drug charge

[Xithras]

6. Chong wouldn't have faced drug charges.

Even the DEA has admitted that Chong wouldn't have faced charges. He had the misfortune to be visiting a friend...who also happened to be a local pot dealer...when the DEA came calling. He was initially held for questioning, but was supposed to be turned loose because the DEA investigators realized that he wasn't connected to the operation and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the investigators had even offered to give him a ride home.

Somewhere along the line there was a paperwork screwup. The investigators thought he had been freed, the people running the facility thought the cell was empty, and he was forgotten inside.

$4.1 million wasn't a lucky gift. He was in the ICU with early stage renal failure after he was found, and had suffered in agony for days (imagine having your hands cuffed behind your back for DAYS), and had to drink his own feces tainted urine to survive. This guy earned every penny of that $4.1 million, and then some.

[Lenomsky]

7. I was making light ...

of a very serious situation, those responsible should be fired as that kind of situation is totally unacceptable however $4.1 million seems an arbitrary figure. I'm entirely unsure how much 5 days of torture is worth but he's set up for life.

[Divernan]

4. The US doesn't need no stinking habeas corpus! USA! USA!

"Chong, a student at University of California, San Diego, was detained in a drug sweep and told after brief questioning that he would be released. Last year, he reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the federal government over what his attorneys called a near-death experience."

This is the most disgusting government action I've come across of late. He'd have been better off in Guantanamo, FFS. Since the Patriot Act, we Americans have less rights than under King George.