By Liz Goodwin- National Affairs Reporter| The Lookout
The Drug Enforcement Administration extended an apology to a University of California engineering student who was locked in a holding cell for more than four days and forgotten about. The student drank his own urine in desperation and attempted to kill himself, before agents returned four days later and found him, he said in a news conference covered by NBC and other outlets. "I am deeply troubled by the incident that occurred here last week," DEA San Diego Acting Special Agent in Charge William R. Sherman said in a statement provided to Yahoo News. "I extend my deepest apologies the young man and want to express that this event is not indicative of the high standards that I hold my employees to. I have personally ordered an extensive review of our policies and procedures."
An earlier statement from the San Diego DEA office was less contrite, with spokeswoman Amy Roderick saying that the student was caught in a drug raid because "he was at the house, by his own admission, to get high with his friends." Daniel Chong, 24, said that he was taken to the local DEA office after he was caught in a drug raid where he was smoking marijuana on April 20. The agents didn't charge him criminally and even told him they would drive him home, but apparently forgot about him in a tiny holding cell, where he languished for days without food, water, or a bathroom. Chong says he finally gave up on screaming for help, and eventually tried to kill himself with the glass from his spectacles and drank his own urine, sure he would die there.
A DEA agent discovered him days later and quickly called an ambulance which drove him to the hospital, where he spent three days in intensive care because of his near-failing kidneys, he said. Chong's lawyer, Gene Iredale, tells Yahoo News his client could hear agents talking and other sounds from his cell, but no one answered his screams. He said Chong was handcuffed. "I believe it was, at best, inconceivably indifferent negligence" Iredale said of the incident. "I have dealt with cases in which police have abused citizens, but I've never seen anything as egregious as this." Iredale plans to file a civil suit as soon as possible.
San Diego DEA agent Amy Roderick said earlier on Wednesday in a statement to Yahoo News that Chong was caught in a home raid on a "suspected MDMA distribution organization" that also netted several weapons, 18,000 MDMA ("ecstasy") pills, marijuana, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. "The individual in question was at the house, by his own admission, to get high with his friends," she wrote. She admitted in the statement that Chong was "accidentally" left in one of the holding rooms, while eight other suspects were either released or transfered to the county jail. Chong also told agents he ate a packet of white powder he found in his cell, which turned out to be meth. "DEA plans to thoroughly review both the events and detention procedures on April 21st and after," Roderick wrote.
Update: This post has been updated with the DEA's apology.
MTW- Is it just me wondering what is wrong with EVERY Governmental Agency? So, did this kid get arrested for possession, or being at a drug house raid? Is the state of being or getting high illegal, or is it actually possessing the drugs, be it internally or external? I have been in jail before, but they sure as hell never forgot to treat me like I had killed somebody after merely having smoked a doobie. Our Presidential “bad apple” has spoiled the proverbial “barrel” called Washington and its Agencies. Fly lately? I think the TSA only hires rapists and pedophiles, with a probable quota of homosexuals. I do not know. I will tell you if I fly now that there is metal in my lumbar spine. They better stay away from the exit only door. But not only has the DEA done this to this poor young man, merely trying to get high; I mean the kid nearly died! Now, someone is impersonating them- I am not making this up- and calling people on their phones, as if you had placed your number on a list for some company to sell by choice. No indeed, as they have gotten these lists from the internet (you know, that thing which our savior Al Gore invented) companies. Actually, some of the things they try to get you to do are incredibly foolish, such as stay on your cellphone until you drive to Western Union; then they will tell you how to pay your fine, lest they send Agents to your home. Not even a little funny, right? It happened to my- well, someone I love. She was actually upset, as the first call, the “set up” call, had her paranoid enough to think seriously about the second, until the request for payment. The first call tells you to call some Agent so-in-so of the DEA, complete with a call number and an Agent’s answering machine message, to deceive you. The second call is the money call in this scam, so watch out. It would seem that the DEA is inept, whether it is them, or not. Just like the White House. We need to clean out our Government and its Agencies. Besides, the DEA is a waste of money, anyhow. A war on drugs? Please. That is like emptying the ocean with a teaspoon. Supply and demand will never change. That’s all I have to say about that. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy
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