N.J. SETTLES PROFILING CASE FOR $340,000

TRENTON -- The state has agreed to pay $340,000 to a New York City
taxi driver arrested for carrying drugs that he said belonged to his
passenger in the first settlement of a lawsuit alleging racial
profiling by state police since New Jersey acknowledged the practice.

The payout is believed to be the largest the state has made in such a
case, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office said.

Jose Baez was pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike in February 1998,
and his passenger ran from the scene. Authorities found cocaine in the
back seat after searching the cab.

He was held in the Burlington County jail for 18 days after the
trooper failed to tell a judge Baez was the driver of the taxi. That
fact was later used to clear Baez of all charges in the case.

He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging he was targeted by
troopers because he is Hispanic.