The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is infamous for stacking charges on defendants and arresting individuals for seemingly minor possessions. However, when it comes to its own agents, there appears to be an endless level of leniency. In 2012, DEA carried out a raid on a home and arrested a group of young people who were smoking marijuana. One was Daniel Chong. Despite the minor violation, Chong was arrested and interrogated. He was told that he would be released but DEA agents simply forgot about him and left him in a cell for five days without food or water. At one point, as the 23-year-old cried and begged for help, someone with the DEA came in and turned off the light in his cell to leave him in the dark. He was given no food or water. Someone was charged, right? Someone was fired, right? No, the DEA has decided that a few reprimands and short suspensions is fine for starving and almost killing Chong.
I earlier wrote a column on how the U.S. government seems to be gradually adopting the legal standards of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. This case seem to fit that storyline all too neatly.
Even the Justice Department has questioned “the DEA’s failure to impose significant discipline on these employees.”
Chong was never charged with a crime and ultimately received a $4.1-million settlement.
The three DEA agents and supervisor responsible will continue to work for the government even though they almost killed Chong who was hospitalized for days after his ordeal. Four reprimands were issued and the supervisor was given a seven-day suspension. Case closed.
Source: LA Times
That should be *Wisconsin Healthcare Worker Retaliation Protection Act*.
BamBam, I most certainly am aware of what goes on in nursing homes. I was a nurse whistleblower involved in a case against a nursing home chain for five years. My case was heard under the Wisconsin Healthcare Retaliation Protection Act, which is heard in front of an ALJ, which is really too bad. Nurses need to have their cases heard in a Federal court in front of a jury. I’ve been very active in nursing home reform for years. Healthcare facilities ARE investigated by the State and even the Feds, but they have a powerful lobby and reform is moving slowly. You’re not going to see nursing staff getting away with this behavior, once it’s been reported. However the facilities have a quid pro quo with the state. I’ve seen it happen, first hand.
I. Annie
Lots and lots of patients who have died due to nurses either giving them the wrong meds, the incorrect dosage of meds, etc. How many instances are not even counted in the records, when the official reports declare that the people succumbed to some disease or advanced age?
Ever hear of bedsores? A person, in a hospital setting, with the proper vigilant attention, won’t get them. Constant turning and adjusting those bedridden, in hospitals, can avoid these pressure sores. Could it be that nurses are negligent? These sores, if they get infected, could allow sepsis. Who is negligent now?
I. Annie
Hear hear Bailers! Let’s see what would happen if some nurse “forgot” about her patient for five days.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9370376/Man-22-who-died-from-dehydration-in-hospital-rang-police-for-a-drink-of-water.html
We don’t have to worry about the “if”.
Nick Spinelli said:
“Manic phase means lots of big, vapid, stupid, photos. “Stupid is as stupid does.””
Ah, yes. Some good old-fashioned civility.
This is why God made rifles. We cannot rely on the government to police its own police.
Hear hear Bailers! Let’s see what would happen if some nurse “forgot” about her patient for five days.
Inga – here is what happens when nurses forget their patients for five days.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9591814/Patients-starve-and-die-of-thirst-on-hospital-wards.html
First, this is the U.S. not the UK. Secondly if the patient refuses to eat and refuses a G Tube for feeding we do not FORCE food upon them. If they are anorexic due to some mental illness, there are legal steps to committing them for their own good and given nutrients, sometimes against their will. Patients in hospices are never ever forced to eat. Neglect of nursing homes patients because they are difficult to feed is investigated and the facility as well as the nursing staff are held responsible. No one just gets their hands slapped.
Inga – you didn’t read the article did you? This was the regular NHS. Doctors are now writing scripts for water to make sure their patients are kept hydrated.
on 1, May 6, 2015 at 1:38 pmPaul C. Schulte
” – reading through your posts I learned to things. 1) you do not know the meaning of irony….”
LOL! Sez Paul of the “Ad hominem attack on me! ” meme. Oy, ya can’t make this stuff up. Now Paul, look up irony.
“Once they left the facility”
Those “agents” had a moral and legal duty. They did not perform it. There’s no justification for acting like inhuman monsters. This isn’t forgetting to turn a light off. They left a man in a cell for FIVE DAYS. That’s inhuman. Those lowlifes would be crucified in a public square if there were any justice in the world.
Instead, a few days paid suspension and they keep their anonymity. That’s as big of a middle finger to justice, the rule of law, and the non-police community as you could ever get.
The officers, allegedly, who placed him there, claim that they forgot about him. Once they left the facility, if, in fact, they did leave, the noises emanating from the cell may have been ignored by other, uninvolved personnel, believing those noises to be the actions of an unruly individual. There is no inconsistency in offering that as a possible scenario. Even if the cries were audible, the apparent lack of response could have an explanation. It’s supplying you with a possible reason as to what might, yes, might have occurred. Where you there? I wasn’t. If the screams could not be heard, and I don’t know that they were, given the specific facility and the existing level of noise, then that is a possible explanation. If the screams could be heard, but were ignored as a common occurrence, not triggering a demand upon personnel to act, that could be a possible explanation.
“Nick Spinelli
I remember this incident. This is not a law enforcement problem.”
Yes, it is a law enforcement problem. The war on drugs has raged on, and is completely unwinnable. But the warriors of today now see their fight as righteous, and the enemy as unconscionable. This is just another example of the dehumanization that has taken place in law enforcement. DEA steals a woman’s identity on Facebook without a warrant or conviction to try and buy a few more drugs. Or they get an innocent truck driver killed with no consequences. The ATF sets up a gun shop, entraps a mentally retard man, has an automatic rifle stolen, and doesn’t say sorry. The FBI scoops up calls and metadata in the name of national security, even though a vast majority of the warrants issued are for narcotics. And local police use SWAT teams for drug raids far more often than what they were intended for.
It IS a law enforcement problem. Many of them view, and are taught as a matter of training and policy, that they are not the same as those they patrol. That is a problem. That won’t be changed by reducing government. That is what keeps so many people from supporting police even when we have every reason to do so. Animal Farm was right: Some pigs are more equal than others.
Inga – reading through your posts I learned to things. 1) you do not know the meaning of irony 2) you have no concept of how the federal government works.
The picture is of Cheech Marin. Chong is the one with the actress daughter.
bam bam
Do you honestly think that personnel constantly check on every noise or scream emanating from a cell?
This seems your rationale is fact-adjusting. Before you argued the officers forgot Chong was there. If a reasonable responsible person heard a noise from a cell they believed empty wouldn’t that reasonable responsible person check it out?
When he was discovered, did the evil officers just allow him to perish?
This suggests you’re not clear on what happened since you’re lumping all the officers together. The officer that found him after 5 days was not involved in his detention. He was one of several onsite to attend a meeting and conduct an interview. So your position is that these newbies to the facility were able to hear Chong and understand the duress but no one else was?
And doesn’t this weigh against your argument above? A new arrival to the facility reacted. If circumstances were so chaotic it’s unreasonable to conclude officers experienced with the environment should have reacted then how was an officer inexperienced with the environment able to react appropriately?
Please note that I make no excuses for the gross negligence.
You’re reaching unsupported conclusions uniformly lessening their culpability, such as mitigating some officers’ bad acts with the redeeming acts of other officers.
Should be, who then proceed to drive off.
blhlls
What comes to mind are the not too frequent stories of parents, forgetting that they placed a child, in a carrier, on the top of the car, and then proceed to drive off. There is a major distinction between horrible, tragic, innocent mistakes and purposeful, deliberate actions.
bam bam, don’t you think that if the same thing had been done by private individuals, with the same level of culpability, that there would have been criminal charges of some kind? They might be acquitted depending on the specific charges, but the indifference that resulted in the detention of someone in a small room without food and water for five days would at least warrant some kind of criminal charge. Compare that to a non-officer who is forcibly arrested merely for looking at an officer and running–both undisputably legal actions. It’s no wonder more and more of the population doesn’t believe that officers will be prosecuted or even disciplined when they commit crimes.
Rick
Have you ever visited a jail or a prison? The noise, from the various cells, is deafening. Yelling, screaming or pounding on the walls is not uncommon. Do you honestly think that personnel constantly check on every noise or scream emanating from a cell? It’s not whether he screamed or cried out, it’s about whether there was a deliberate attempt to ignore him and allow him to die of starvation. Thankfully, he didn’t die. When he was discovered, did the evil officers just allow him to perish? No. If they wished him dead, they could’ve allowed that to happen. What did they do? They got him the life saving medical treatment that he needed. Please note that I make no excuses for the gross negligence. None. The 4.1 million was a testament to that negligence. In this particular case, however, there doesn’t appear to be malicious intent.
Squeeky – Your attempt at humor of the whole world bring stoned rings hollow.
I know of no person that advocates for drug legalization that wants stoned truck drivers. Nobody. This is a red herring if there ever was one.
Drug use is a health issue, not a criminal justice issue. What a wonderful country we had when prohibition was in effect. NOT. Moonshine was rampant. Alcohol was readily available to those that wanted it and money flowed like a big river into the hands of criminals, not as tax revenue to the states. Is it any different today? Our war on drugs enriches criminals who spend the money on guns to keep their profits. The illegality of drugs ensures that people die, lots of people. I am sure the number of deaths in Mexico due to drug was now far exceeds 100,000 people. Many were criminal, many were innocent bystanders.
Our drug war ruins lives, it does not prevent people using drugs. Please check out http://www.leap.cc.
Hundreds of thousands of vets have waited months or years for disability claims. “Delay, deny, wait ’til I die.”
I think the documentation of hundreds of thousands of people effectively counter’s Steve’s single personal anecdote. And such a large cohort effectively predicts the outcome of nationalized healthcare. Anyone who wants to repeat the VA experiment on a national scale and yet expect a different result is mistaken.
Why would government suddenly become accountable or responsive to the people it serves if we handed them our healthcare, when they never have before?
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/treatment-denied-vets-sound-va-town-hall-meeting-n104896
http://www.cbs8.com/story/22082924/veterans-on-the-va-claim-process-delay-deny-wait-til-i-die