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DEA Pays $4.1 Million to Student Abandoned in Prison Cell

HeadlineJul 31, 2013

The Drug Enforcement Administration has agreed to pay a $4.1 million settlement to a San Diego college student who nearly lost his life after being left handcuffed in a cell for more than four days without food or water. Daniel Chong had been arrested after being arrested at a 4/20 celebration of marijuana culture. He was not charged with any crime and was due to be released. But instead, the DEA says agents forgot about Chong after placing him inside a holding cell in handcuffs. Chong says he could hear DEA staffers outside his cell, but no one answered his pleas for help. He drank his own urine in a bid to survive before finally being found just as he says he felt his life slipping away. None of the agents involved will face charges.

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