Django Unchained actress Daniele Watts was handcuffed by the LAPD after a very public PDA. She claims she was racially profiled and mistaken for a prostitute. Cops say they were doing their jobs. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
Daniele Watts is the actress whose big break was appearing in the hit movie Django Unchained.
She played a slave in the movie, forced to wear a sexy French maid costume for her master. But it's video of her in tears and in handcuffs that's causing uproar.
The incident unfolded outside a TV studio in Los Angeles. Someone working in a nearby building called 911 and complained that a couple could be seen having sex in a car parked on a street.
In audio from the confrontation with cops, she can be heard refusing to give her name to the police.
The police officer asked, “I have every right to ask for your I.D.”
She said, “And I have every right to say no.”
A distraught Watts complained she was being racially profiled, saying, “Do you know how many times the cops have been called just for being black? Just because we're black and he's white. I'm just being really honest.”
The officer said, “Who brought up a race card? I said nothing about you being black.”
Her angry exchange with cops continued. She said, “It's my right to sit on the [expletive] street corner and make out with my boyfriend. That's my right!”
The officer said, “Keep yelling. It really helps. It really helps.”
“What is a problem for me is that you think you're better than me and you think you have more power than me,” she replied.
The officer said, “I do have more power than you.”
She demonstrated how she was simply making out with boyfriend Brian Lucas when someone called 911.
The couple both posted accounts of the incident on Facebook claiming cops mistook Watts for a prostitute.
The LAPD has launched an internal investigation into the incident but said in a statement: "The officers located two individuals that matched the description of the suspects, and they were briefly detained. It was determined that no crime had been committed. Ms. Watts and her companion were subsequently released."
Watts said, “I knew that the clearest thing for me to do was to own my right as a free person and say I haven't done anything wrong and I know I’m not required to give my I.D.”
Is she correct? According to attorney Royal Oakes she had every right to refuse to produce an I.D. under these circumstances.
He told INSIDE EDITION, "California law does not allow a cop to insist for a person to show I.D. She was on solid ground and now."
