|
A college student picked up in a drug sweep in California was never arrested, never charged and should have been released. Instead he was forgotten in a holding cell for four days and says he had to drink his own urine to stay alive. Without food, water or access to a toilet, Daniel Chong began hallucinating on the third day. He said in an interview on Wednesday that he saw little Japanese-style cartoon characters that told him to dig into the walls to find water. Chong tore apart the plastic lining on the walls. "I ripped the walls and waited for the room to flood for some reason," said the 23-year-old student at the University of California, San Diego, three days after he left the hospital, where he was treated for dehydration and kidney failure. "I can't explain my hallucinations too well because none of them make sense." Later, he added, "I felt like I was completely losing my mind." Four days later, agents opened the door on a fluke and found him covered in his own feces, Chong said. Chong's attorneys filed a $20 million claim on Wednesday against the Drug Enforcement Administration, saying his treatment constitutes torture under US and international law. "He nearly died," said Chong's lawyer, Eugene Iredale. "If he had been there another 12 to 24 hours, he probably would have died." The five-page notice, a required precursor to a lawsuit, was sent to the DEA's chief counsel in Washington and cites damages for pain and suffering, future medical and psychiatric treatment, and loss of future earnings. | 
