>>> a california college student 's tear foig ordeal while in the custody of drug enforcement officials. he is suing for $20 million after he says agents forgot him in a cell for nearly five days after arresting him in a drug raid . reporter tony shin has more.
>> i had to do what i had to do to survive.
>> reporter: for daniel, surviving his horrifying ordeal inside a 5 x 10 holding cell similar to this one meant drinking his own urine.
>> about three time.
>> as nbc 7 first reported, he was detained as dea office informing a drug raid at an apartment where he admits he was pot with friends. agents told him he was not under arrest and even offered him a ride home. hours later, handcuffed and alone inside a small windowless holding cell . chong wondered why he was still there.
>> so inconceivable, you keep doubting that they would forget you.
>> reporter: but that's exactly what happened. those hours turned into days. all the while, chong says he could hear dea workers and other detainees walking by his cell door.
>> i kicked the door many, many times. even my neighbors, i guess, were getting annoyed with me and telling me to shut up. and i hallucinated by third day. i was completely insane. i was trying to get my sanity back i didn't care if i died. i wanted to make sense of things.
>> reporter: by day 4 the lights had gone out. thirsty and starving in total darkness, chong said he tried to commit suicide by breaking his eyeglasses. he used the sharp edge to carve a message into his arm.
>> trying to write sorry, mom. i couldn't even aim. i gave up on that one.
>> reporter: on day five, agents finally opened his cell door. suffering from signs of kidney failure, chong was rushed by ambulance to sharp memorial. on the way he told an agent what he had been through.
>> everything that i said, he was like, oh, my god.
>> that was tony shin reporting. in a statement the special agent in charge of the dea 's san diego division says, i am deeply troubled by the incident that occurred here last week. i extend my deepest apologies to the young man and i want to express this event is not indicative of the high standards that i hold my employees
