DEA locked student in cell for 5 days during 420, treatment like "Abu Ghraib" - Polidicks

[IMG]http://img.vrvm.com/media/render.htm?m=309714052&height=36[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2012/05/UCSD-Student-DEA.jpg[/IMG] [quote] [B]Daniel Chong[/B], the UC San Diego student who was [URL="http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Man-Detained-Four-Days-at-San-Diego-DEA-Office-149427965.html"]left in a Drug Enforcement Agency holding cell for nearly five days[/URL], said the time spent in his cell was a life-altering experience. Before holding a press conference Tuesday afternoon, the 23-year-old spoke with NBCSanDiego and said he was increasingly worried throughout the days he spent in a 5 ft. by 10 ft. cell, where he could not spread his arms out wide. “They never came back, ignored all my cries and I still don’t know what happened,” he said. “I’m not sure how they could forget me.” Chong and his lawyer spoke to the media on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the claim they will file with the federal court system on Wednesday. “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said his lawyer Gene Iredale, who compared Chong’s experience to Abu Ghraib. Chong said he was at a friend’s house in University City celebrating 4/20, a day many marijuana users set aside to smoke, when agents came inside and raided the residence. Chong was then taken to the DEA office in Kearny Mesa. He said agents questioned him, and then told him he could go home. One agent even offered him a ride, Chong said. [B]No criminal charges were filed against him. But Chong did not go home that night. Instead, he was placed in a cell for five days without any human contact and was not given food or drink. In his desperation, he said he was forced to drink his own urine.[/B] “I had to do what I had to do to survive….I hallucinated by the third day,” Chong said. “I was completely insane.” Chong said he lost roughly 15 pounds during the time he was alone. His lawyer confirmed that [URL="http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/DEA-Detainee-Found-White-Powdery-Substance-in-Cell-149596435.html"]Chong ingested a powdery substance[/URL] found inside the cell. Later testing revealed the substance was methamphetamine. After days of being ignored, Chong said he tried to take his own life by breaking the glass from his spectacles with his teeth and then carving “Sorry mom,” on his wrists. He said nurses also found pieces of glass in his throat, which led him to believe he ingested the pieces purposefully. Chong said he could hear DEA employees and people in neighboring cells. He screamed to let them know he was there, but no one replied. He kicked the door, but no one came to get him. [B]By the time DEA officers found Chong in his cell Wednesday morning Chong was completely incoherent, said Iredale. [/B] “I didn’t think I would come out,” Chong said. He said when employees discovered him in the cell that they looked confused and nervous. A DEA employee rode with him to the hospital, where they paid for Chong’s visit. [B]He spent three days in the intensive care unit at Sharp Hospital and his kidneys were close to failing. [/B] The DEA has not apologized to Chong, said Iredale. The incident also caused Chong to miss his midterms at UCSD. He said he does not know if he will return to school, as his perspective on life has changed since his isolation. San Diego defense attorney Gretchen Von Helms said the victim could get millions if he files a lawsuit. "In all my years of practice I've never heard of the DEA or any Federal government employee simply forgetting about someone that they have in their care," she said. "There has to be repercussions if people do not follow the safety and the care when they have a human being in their custody." [/quote] [URL]http://m.nbcsandiego.com/nbcsandiego/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=kDBF0UUA&full=true#display[/URL] [URL]http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Man-Detained-Four-Days-at-San-Diego-DEA-Office-149427965.html[/URL] [URL]http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/DEA-Detainee-Found-White-Powdery-Substance-in-Cell-149596435.html[/URL] [URL]http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/30/dea-abandoned-suspect-custody-5-days/[/URL] [URL="http://www.examiner.com/article/student-forgotten-holding-cell-suffered-near-kidney-failure"] http://www.examiner.com/article/student-forgotten-holding-cell-suffered-near-kidney-failure[/URL] Reading about this being so close to home as well as being of Asian descent, is pretty damn alarming to hear in 2012.

Oh man, poor Chong. [img]http://images.buddytv.com/articles/Image/what-are-they-up-to-Tommy-Chong.jpg[/img]

wow what the fuck DEA

How the fuck do you just forget about someone in a cell? I mean, someone had to have known he was in there.

That's fucking insane

I didn't even know it was physically possible to lose 15 pounds that fast

How the actual fuck can you forget about someone like that. 5 days without food or water, fuck man. I hope he gets compensated to the moon and back.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;35791236]I didn't even know it was physically possible to lose 15 pounds that fast[/QUOTE] He ended up ingesting some meth which probably sent his metabolism through the roof and caused him to shed a ton of fat instead of retain it(which the body usually does when staved).

That is hard to imagine what he went through five days in isolation drinking your own urine and hallucinating.

fuck the dea

[QUOTE=NorthernFall;35791238]How the actual fuck can you forget about someone like that. 5 days without food or water, fuck man. I hope he gets compensated to the moon and back.[/QUOTE] Well, if he wins, he's definitely set for the rest of his college career.

[QUOTE=kool-mike;35791270]That is hard to imagine what he went through five days in isolation drinking your own urine and hallucinating.[/QUOTE] Wait till you go to college

So yeah, did they just lock up a meth-head who spilled some in his fervor?

someone needs to be fired.

Hope he sues the shit out of the DEA and wins millions.

[QUOTE=thisispain;35791316]someone needs to be fired.[/QUOTE] Someone needs a felony conviction tbh.

[QUOTE=FingerSpazem;35791293]Wait till you go to college[/QUOTE] Im in college

[QUOTE=Greenen72;35791307]So yeah, did they just lock up a meth-head who spilled some in his fervor?[/QUOTE] he found it in the cell, the article makes no mention of him using before the detainment

[QUOTE=Furioso;35791443]-snip-[/QUOTE] "Chong said he lost roughly 15 pounds during the time he was alone. His lawyer confirmed that Chong ingested a powdery substance found inside the cell. Later testing revealed the substance was methamphetamine." [editline]1st May 2012[/editline] FUCK

I know, that was my bad, I was looking at the first linked article :v:

They couldn't even apologize to him, what a bunch of fucking assholes.

And yet the war on drugs still solves fucking nothing

This is just plain fucked up.

Wow, he was having a harmless little annual smoke out with his friends and he ends up in a cell for five days and is forced to drink his own urine and injest meth that was just lying around? What the fuck!?!?

And this is why we need to get the fuck rid of the DEA. Kid's only crime was suspicion of possessing marijuana, and he's left in a cell without food and water so long that he tries to take his own life. Absolutely in-fucking-excusable. This is not the way we treat human beings.

[QUOTE=thisispain;35791316]someone needs to be fired.[/QUOTE] No, someone needs to go to prison for criminal negligence. If you fuck up some paperwork, you get fired. If your incompetence drives someone to attempted suicide, you go to prison.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;35791236]I didn't even know it was physically possible to lose 15 pounds that fast[/QUOTE] Keep in mind your body will lose a lot of water in five days without food or drink.

[QUOTE=Melkor;35791642]Keep in mind your body will lose a lot of water in five days without food or drink.[/QUOTE] It also starts to cannibalize itself ~3 days in, depending on your initial weight. Hence the kidney failure. [editline]2nd May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=yawmwen;35791199]How the fuck do you just forget about someone in a cell? I mean, someone had to have known he was in there.[/QUOTE] They tend to ignore people screaming in cells, merely assuming they're supposed to be in there and going about their business. Presumably, everybody who heard him just figured he was someone else's problem.

The DEA Is fucking useless.

[QUOTE=Lankist;35791636] If your incompetence drives someone to attempted suicide, you go to prison.[/QUOTE] maybe if we're being optimistic. law enforcement personnel have gotten away with worse crimes.