SAN DIEGO (AP) — Daniel Chong was a 23-year-old engineering student in San Diego when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration left him in a windowless cell for four days without food or water. He says he drank his own urine to stay alive and tried to write a farewell message to his mother with his own blood.
Chong's attorney, Eugene Iredale, said he will announce "an important development" Tuesday, little more than a year after filing a $20 million claim against the federal government. He declined to elaborate.
DEA spokesman Rusty Payne referred questions to the Justice Department, which handled settlement negotiations. A call to the Justice Department's public affairs office was not returned Monday.
Chong was hospitalized for five days. The DEA issued a public apology at the time.
