Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - February 10, 2006
Wanda J. Demarzo, wdemarzo@MiamiHerald.com
Lee, a Miami-Dade woman, owns a company called Angie B. Productions, which helps promote HIV awareness events.
She was doing just that -- distributing condoms and materials in the parking lot of Baja Beach Club in Oakland Park in April 2002 -- when she ended up handcuffed and sitting in the back of a deputy's patrol car.
Lee filed a suit April 12, 2004 against the Broward Sheriff's Office and the two deputies who arrested her, Lt. Rafael Perez and Deputy Jesus Alvarez.
On Jan. 25, BSO agreed to settle the case for $134,000 after a jury found Perez violated her civil rights and falsely arrested the 35-year-old woman. Of that amount, Lee will receive about $50,000 with the rest going to her lawyer, Hugh Koerner.
Lee, known as the Condom Lady for her aggressive efforts to promote safe sex practices, contended her good name was besmirched by the arrest. The Broward State Attorney's Office dropped the charges against Lee. "It was a good verdict," Lee said. "But the jury got to see the facts, that I didn't do anything wrong or anything illegal. I was the one violated."
Perez and Alvarez arrested Lee and charged her with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence after she refused to leave the parking lot of the Baja Beach Club where she was distributing condoms, CDs and literature that promoted safe sex.
While Lee spoke with Alvarez, Perez rushed toward Lee, spun her around and handcuffed her.
That's when some of the young people in the parking lot started yelling out.
"That's the Condom Lady! That's the Condom Lady!" Deputies said that Lee "incited some of the juveniles standing nearby the incident" and "started shouting that she had the right to be there."
At the time, BSO said its deputies acted with "probable cause" and that Lee's complaint lacked merit. "At this stage in the case, we still believe that Perez and Alvarez acted properly," said BSO spokesman Elliot Cohen.
Lee still owns her production company and continues to promote AIDS awareness and safe sex, and on Wednesday, she participated in Black AIDS Day, distributing materials in Liberty City.
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