An hallucinating California collegian drank his own urine to survive and swallowed a shard of shattered glass after forgetful federal agents left him alone for five days in a holding cell. Click below to find out more.
“I was completely insane,†said Daniel Chong, 24, who was mistakenly locked inside a 5-by-10-foot windowless room after an April 21 drug sweep of a University City, Calif., home.
Authorities seized 18,000 ecstasy pills, along with other drugs and weapons, and brought in nine people during the raid.
Seven were arrested, one was released — and Chong was inexplicably held in his cramped cell for five days at a Drug Enforcement Agency holding facility, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Chong was hanging out with friends at the house, and acknowledged that he was smoking pot — but insisted he knew nothing about the drug stash or the weapons, the newspaper reported.
He was not charged with any crime, and spent another five days in the hospital recovering from his “incarceration.â€
According to Chong, agents at the building ignored his cries for help as he listened to their conversations on the other side of his cell door.
He recounted kicking, screaming and crying — all to no avail. At one point, the dehydrated suspect began drinking his own urine to survive.
DEA spokeswoman Amy Roderick, without providing any explanation, confirmed that Chong “was accidentally left in one of the cells.â€
At times during his ordeal, the power went out in his bathroom-less cell. Chong said he eventually began to hallucinate, even using his teeth to break his glasses into shards.
Chong tried using the broken glass to carve “Sorry Mom†into his left arm. His lung was apparently perforated when he swallowed one of the shards.
The engineering student at UC-San Diego said the DEA agents were initially helpful and apologetic, telling Chong that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
One agent even offered Chong a ride home, the student claimed.
