A California university student who was left handcuffed in a holding cell for almost five days without food or water has reached a $US4.1 million ($4.5 million) settlement with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), his lawyers said.
Daniel Chong, who was rounded up along with eight other people in an April 21, 2012, drug raid at a San Diego area home, has said that he was forced to drink his own urine and nearly died after being placed in the cell and apparently forgotten.
After the ordeal, the 24-year-old student of the University of California, San Diego, spent five days in a San Diego hospital, three of them in intensive care. Last year, he filed a $US20 million claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, against the DEA.
In San Diego on Tuesday, his lawyers, Eugene Iredale and Julia Yoo, said they had settled that claim with the DEA for $4.1 million.
"To its credit, the government has responded by acknowledging responsibility, apologising personally to Daniel and instituting changes in policies regarding safety checks for prisoners in temporary holding cells at DEA facilities," Mr Iredale said. "What happened to Daniel Chong should never happen to any human being on the face of the planet."
A spokeswoman for the DEA said the agency was investigating the incident but referred calls regarding the settlement to the Department of Justice. A spokesman there could not immediately be reached for comment.
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