A Californian university student, Daniel Chong, who was mistakenly left handcuffed in a cell without food or water for five days and survived by drinking his own urine has filed a claim of $20 million for compensation.

Daniel Chong, an engineering student at the University of California at San Diego, ended up hospitalized for five days after being left unattended in one of three cells at a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in San Diego last month, his lawyer, Julia Yoo, said.

Chong, 23, ended up in DEA custody when he was rounded up with eight other people in a drug raid on April 21 at someone else’s home where he had spent the night after smoking marijuana with friends, Yoo said.

The DEA said seven others arrested with Chong were booked into jail and an eighth was released. The agency said it also seized large quantities of various drugs, three firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Yoo said her client was cleared of any wrongdoing and agents told him they were putting him in a holding cell for just a minute before driving him home. That was early on April 21, a Saturday. He remained locked up alone until Wednesday.

Afterward, he ended up hospitalized for five days, the first three of which he spent in intensive care, suffering from severe dehydration, muscle deterioration, hallucinations, kidney failure and extremely high levels of sodium, his lawyer said.

“He nearly died as a result,” the complaint stated, adding, “The deprivation of food and water for four and one half days while the person is handcuffed the entire time constitutes torture under both international and domestic law.”