A Southern California congressman called Wednesday on the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into the botched detention three years ago of a college student inadvertently left handcuffed in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell in Kearny Mesa without food or water for five days.
The federal personnel who "perpetrated this abuse" on then-UC San Diego engineering major Daniel Chong "must be held accountable, and a message must be sent that these kinds of actions cannot, must not happen again," said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance.
A representative of the DEA's San Diego office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chong, 23 at the time, suffered acute renal failure, muscle degeneration and dehydration during the illegitimate detention and was hospitalized for four days afterward. The following year, the government awarded him $4.1 million in an out-of-court settlement.
Following an internal investigation that ended last month, two involved DEA agents were suspended and four others received reprimands, according to Lieu, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That set of sanctions, however, "does not amount to justice for Mr. Chong and his family," Lieu said.
"The current DOJ solution to this matter — a review of DEA internal disciplinary process — is simply not good enough," the congressman said. "Mr. Chong almost died and had to undergo treatment for trauma caused by the abuse he suffered."
Lieu said he would "be sending a letter shortly to formally request that the Department of Justice conduct a full civil rights investigation into the apparent denial of Mr. Chong's civil and constitutional rights by the DEA."
On April 21, 2012, Chong was arrested along with several other people during a drug raid on a University City home. Following an interview, DEA agents informed him that he would not be charged, then returned him to a 5- by 10-foot holding cell with his wrists cuffed behind his back, telling him they would be back momentarily.
He remained there until April 25, when federal officers uninvolved in his case happened to find him.
While languishing forgotten in the cell, Chong drank his own urine to slake his thirst, broke the lenses of his eyeglasses and cut himself with the shards, and ingested methamphetamine he came across in the cell.
