An actress said she was handcuffed and briefly detained on a Studio City street because Los Angeles police officers mistook her and her husband for a prostitute and customer, it was reported Sunday.
Watts told the entertainment magazine that she and her husband, Brian James Lucas, were mistaken by police for a prostitute and a customer after they showed public displays of affection.
Variety.com reported that she first refused to show any identification to the officers, and was handcuffed and seated in the back of their patrol car until they figured out who she was prior to being let go.
“Today (Thursday) I was handcuffed and detained by two police officers from the Studio City Police Department after refusing to agree that I had done something wrong by showing affection, fully clothed, in a public place,” wrote actress Daniele Watts on her Facebook page.
Watts also posted a picture of herself sobbing as she stood in shorts, T- shirt and running shoes, next to an officer, Variety.com reported.
A statement from the LAPD says officers got a radio call of indecent exposure in the 11900 block of Ventura Boulevard around 3 p.m. on Thursday. A witness reported that a man and a woman were behaving indecently inside a silver Mercedes with the door open, the statement read.
A responding sergeant and police officer briefly detained Watts and her husband, because they matched the witness’s description, according to the statement.
Upon further investigation, however, it was determined that no crime had been committed and Watts and her husband were let go.
She is black, her husband is white, and the police officer pictured in her photos appears Hispanic.
Watts did not mention race in her comment on the issue but possibly inferred it.
“As I was sitting in the back of the police car, I remembered the countless times my father came home frustrated or humiliated by cops when he had done nothing wrong,” she wrote. “I felt his shame, his anger.”
Watts known for her role in “Django Unchained” and currently plays comedian Martin Lawrence’s daughter in the new FX comedy “Partners.’
An internal complaint investigation has been initiated regarding the matter, according to the LAPD.
— City News Service