STUDENT MISTAKENLY HELD ON DRUG CHARGE SETTLES WITH PHILA.

A Bryn Mawr College student wrongly jailed for three weeks on drug
charges by Philadelphia police has settled her civil-rights case for $180,000.

Janet H. Lee, now a senior, was arrested at Philadelphia
International Airport in 2003 after screeners found three condoms
filled with white powder in her carry-on and city police said field
tests showed that the substances likely contained opium and cocaine.

Lee was held in lieu of $500,000 bond for 21 days, until further drug
testing proved that her unlikely story - that the powder was just
flour - was true.

As part of an exam ritual in her dorm, Lee had filled the condoms
with flour to make a phallic toy that freshmen squeezed to reduce
stress. She had found it so funny that she had packed them to take
home to California to show friends after exams.

Lee's civil-rights case against the city had been scheduled for trial
today in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

"Everyone wants their day in court, so it was difficult" to settle,
in part because she will never know why the flour initially tested
positive for drugs, she said yesterday.

"It's like everyone was at fault, but no one was responsible," Lee said.

At least, she said, the settlement means she will not have to testify
about what it is like to spend three weeks in a city jail for a crime
she did not commit, particularly after spending much of the last
three years working to heal herself psychologically.

"Part of going to trial would have meant that I have to acknowledge
losses and admit that this had damaged me," she said. "I didn't want
to have to admit that."

Lynne Sitarski, chief deputy of the city solicitor's civil-rights
division, said the city "is not admitting wrongdoing or liability."

The settlement, the city lawyer said, was "in the best interests of the city."

Lee, now 21, was not physically injured while jailed, said her
lawyer, Jeffrey Ibrahim.

One of the settlement provisions allows Lee to meet with city police
to discuss what happened.

"Leadership is going to sit down and listen with her to see what went
on," Ibrahim said.

Lee has heard criticism that carrying white substances onto an
airplane was a foolhardy act. But, she said yesterday, she did not
know at the time that drug dealers often carry drugs in condoms. "I
was naive, really stupid," she said.

Nonetheless, her lawyer said, the police drug test should not have
detected drugs.

"Under the circumstances, something went terribly wrong," Ibrahim
said. "We're trying to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again."

Asked if others had successfully sued or settled claims involving
false-positive drug tests in Philadelphia in the last two or three
years, Sitarski said that no one had.

Lee, a comparative literature major, said she planned to use the
settlement money to pay for graduate school, though she has not
determined what kind of graduate work she will pursue. Law school is
an unlikely option, she said.