The US government made the payout to uni student Daniel Chong who had been arrested during a drug raid at a friend’s home where he had been smoking marijuana. The house was raided by police where a cache of ecstacy pills were seized in 2012.
Chong who was 23 at the time, was arrested at the scene with 9 other people and put in a prison cell and told by a policeman “We’ll come get you in a minute.”
He was trapped in a tiny 5 x10 ft windowless cell, and resorted to drinking his own urine off of the metal bench.
“I didn’t just sit there quietly. I was kicking the door yelling,” Chong told the Associated Press. “All I wanted was my sanity. I wasn’t making any sense,” he said, recalling that he had started to hallucinate by day three.
Following the incident, Chong spent five days in hospital being treated for kidney failure, dehydration and a perforated oesphagus. The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) issued an apology.
“I extend my deepest apologies [to] the young man and want to express that this event is not indicative of the high standards that I hold my employees to,” said William R. Sherman of San Diego DEA, according to the LA Times.
He told reporters he intends to use the money from the multi-million dollar payout to buy his parents a house.
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