“Django Unchained” Actress Says She Was Handcuffed for ‘Showing Affection’
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Michael Tran/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — An actress who appeared in the film Django Unchained is claiming Los Angeles police handcuffed her last week after “showing affection” toward her partner in public.
In a lengthy post on her Facebook page on Thursday, Daniele Watts wrote, “Today I was handcuffed and detained by 2 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.”
Watts says when police arrived, she stood on a sidewalk and spoke with her father on her phone. She knew she’d done nothing wrong, so she walked away.
She says a few minutes later, two police officers “accosted” her and “forced” her into handcuffs. She continues, “As I was sitting in the back of the police car, I remembered the countless times my father came home frustrated or humiliated by the cops when he had done nothing wrong. I felt his shame, his anger, and my own feelings of frustration for existing in a world where I have allowed myself to believe that ‘authority figures’ could control my BEING…my ability to BE!!!!!!!”
Watts also posted a photo of herself crying during the incident, alongside another picture of herself playing a cop on the show Weeds.
Watts’ partner, Brian, maintains to TMZ that the two were making out inside a parked car outside of CBS studios in Los Angeles when a nearby resident spotted them and called police. He suggests police confronted them because he’s white and Watts is black, and they thought she was a prostitute.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement saying officers were responding to a call that “a male and a female were involved in indecent exposure inside a Silver Mercedes with the vehicle door open.”
The statement notes, “The responding sergeant and police officers located two individuals that matched the description of the suspects, and they were briefly detained. Upon further investigation it was determined that no crime had been committed. Ms. Watts and her companion were subsequently released.”
The LAPD says an internal investigation regarding the matter has been launched.
Watts currently stars in the new FX comedy Partners.
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