Los Angeles (CNN) -- A San Diego college student filed a legal claim Wednesday for damages suffered when he was left handcuffed and without food or water in a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell for five days last month.
A DEA statement said Daniel Chong, 23, was "accidentally left" in a holding cell.
"Accidentally? He almost died," said Chong's lawyer, Gene Iredale. "It's inexplicable."
Chong drank his own urine to survive as his cries for help were ignored by inmates in nearby cells and federal agents, Iredale said.
