Did you hear the one about the college kid
who hit the big money jackpot with taxpayers after being negligently and
wrongfully locked up in a tiny windowless cell, abandoned without food and water
for 4 ½ days by your friendly government goons?
This is just one more of the many instances in which your
government horribly abuses the most basic human and constitutional rights of
innocent human beings; forces the innocent taxpayers to pay outrageously big
money to cover the damage; and then allows the guilty individual wrongdoers to
go completely unpunished.
Daniel Chong, a 23-year old college student at the time, has
reached a $4.1 million settlement with the federal government after he was
abandoned in a windowless Drug Enforcement Administration cell for more than
four days without food or water. He was forced to drink his own urine in order
to stay alive, hallucinated that agents were trying to poison him with gases
through the vents, and tried to carve a farewell message to his mother in his
arm.
It’s another example of the War on Drugs gone mad. The
victim is an innocent human being. The criminal wrongdoers are government Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) thugs. The kid was taken into custody during a
drug raid and placed in the cell by a San Diego police officer authorized to
perform DEA work on a task force. The officer told Chong he would not be
charged and said, "Hang tight, we'll come get you in a minute."
Was it a horrible, indefensible, unforgivable and
outrageous ordeal? Absolutely!
Chong was hospitalized for five days for dehydration,
kidney failure, cramps and a perforated esophagus. He lost 15 pounds. That
innocent kid suffered unimaginably and deserves justice.
Is it something for which innocent taxpayers should have
to shell out $4.1 dollars? Absolutely not!
But what the hell; your government has taxpayer money to
burn. It can afford to pay that kind of a jackpot as often as it deems
necessary to clean up its dirty messes as long as it involves other people’s
money.
Here is the key to this whole sordid episode: It happened
over a year ago in April of 2012. No one has been disciplined! No one has been
punished! The goons who did this to an innocent human being will suffer no
consequences; will pay no damages; will just walk away from the mess they
created scot free while the taxpayers are stuck with the damage.
As badly as this victim was treated; as much as he
suffered; as outrageous as the facts may be; and as much as he surely deserves
a fair amount of money damages, the taxpayers should not have to shell out $4.1
million; that’s too much in my opinion.
The wrongdoers, the government thugs who did this to him,
regardless of the fact that it might have been negligent and not deliberate,
should be paying a high price for their conduct. They should pay money out of
their pockets until they are destitute or for the rest of their lives,
whichever occurs first, and that obligation should not be dischargeable in
bankruptcy. They should never be allowed to hold a position of trust again in
any occupation.
Most importantly, if the object is to prevent these kinds
of things from happening again, the government culprits should be forced to
endure at least half the physical and psychological suffering their innocent
victim suffered. That means they should get solitary confinement, be locked up
in 5x7 windowless cells for a minimum of two days, and deprived of any food or
water the entire time.
Yes, in my opinion there should be a special kind of just
punishment for government agents who violate the basic human and constitutional
rights of American citizens. They should be made to suffer for it in such a way
as to send a message to other government goons to think twice before they do
the same.
It is only fair that innocent taxpayers be spared
millions of dollars in over the top damages while the real wrongdoers go
unpunished.
A yeah, make the individual wrongdoers pay until they are destitute, and absolve the government of its responsibility? Corporations pay damages too, but nobody complains that "it wasn't the owners (stockholders) who committed the wrongdoing, so the corporation shouldn't have to pay." All that absolving the government and requiring only the individual to pay is prevent the victim from being properly compensated because a destitute person won't pay anything. When the wrongdoers die, they won't make any more payments either, thus the victim is punished twice. Abuse by government officials needs to be adequately compensated by the government.
ReplyDeleteJust like corporations and partnerships can be liable for its torts, so should the government.
As far as I'm concerned, if I had $4.1 million, I'd give it all until I was destitute to avoid the same situation. I suspect if the victim had severe claustrophobia, he could have very well died or become insane. $4.1 million was not enough.
I do agree that the individuals should be imprisoned for their, at a minimum, gross criminal negligence, but also that the government should pay for their damage.