Daniel Chong, forgotten in DEA cell, settles suit for $4.1 million

By Stan Wilson, CNN

July 31, 2013 -- Updated 1040 GMT (1840 HKT)

Daniel Chong was never formally arrested or charged, the DEA says.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• College student Daniel Chong was detained after a DEA raid at a friend's house in 2012
• He was left in a cell for five days without food or water and lost 15 pounds, attorney says
• Chong has since returned to university to earn an economics degree, attorney says

San Diego (CNN) -- A University of California San Diego student left unmonitored in a holding cell for five days by the Drug Enforcement Administration has settled a lawsuit for $4.1 million, his attorney said Tuesday.

"This was a mistake of unbelievable and unimaginable proportions," said attorney Julia Yoo.

Daniel Chong, 25, drank his own urine to survive and even wrote a farewell note to his mother before authorities discovered him severely dehydrated after a 2012 drug raid in San Diego.

Chong was detained on the morning of April 21 when DEA agents raided a house they suspected was being used to distribute MDMA, commonly known as "ecstasy."

A multiagency narcotics task force, including state agents, detained nine people and seized about 18,000 ecstasy pills, marijuana, prescription medications, hallucinogenic mushrooms, several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the house, according to the DEA.

It wasn't until the afternoon of Wednesday, April 25, that an agent opened the steel door to Chong's cell and found the handcuffed student, Chong's attorney Gene Iredale said last year.