The internet was outraged upon hearing the news that Django Unchained actress Daniele Watts was arrested by the LADP on suspicion of prostitution for kissing her white boyfriend in public.
The actress claimed that she was racially profiled by police, and has caused a media firestorm.
Her crime? Kissing her husband in public. Because he's white, the police assumed she was a prostitute #DanieleWatts pic.twitter.com/w6Fnyh4yoz
— Oakland Raiders 0-2 (@MilkDudLoc) September 14, 2014
WTF is wrong with #cops ?? Seriously, a true bunch of repugnant racists….http://t.co/82r2gRTFE9
#DanieleWatts
— Heather Matarazzo (@HeatherMatarazz) September 14, 2014
Actress #Danielewatts mistaken for prostitute and detained after showing affection with her husband. It never ends…http://t.co/QKCh3ChLHd
— Corinne Gaston (@ElyseHamsa) September 13, 2014
“I sat on his lap in the front seat of the car and we start making out,” said Watts.
Watts boyfriend Lucas claimed that while questions Watts, officers repeatedly asked him “do you really know her?” Lucas claimed the questions were full of “innuendo” and suspected that they were trying to imply that Watts was a prostitute.
“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,” wrote Watts on her Facebook page.
“When the officer arrived, I was standing on the sidewalk by a tree. I was talking to my father on my cellphone. I knew that I had done nothing wrong, that I wasn’t harming anyone, so I walked away. A few minutes later, I was still talking to my dad when 2 different police officers accosted me and forced me into handcuffs.”
While countless news organizations have reported claims of racial profiling, recent developments in the story have shown that the stop by officers was not as unwarranted as previously believed.
It has come out that Watts and Lucas were not simply making out as the actress claimed. The couple was in fact having sex in a car when Watts was detained.
While with police, Watts refused to give her identification to the officer saying “I have a publicist and I work as an actor… do you know how many times the cops have been called just because I’m black and he’s white?”
Sgt. Jim Parker of the LAPD has refuted Watts story, telling Hollywood Reporter that the actress is lying. According to Parker, Watts’ claims that the LAPD harassed and profiled her are “malicious and false statements.”
Parker explained that he was in the area when he received a call about public nudity near the corner of Radford Avenue and Ventura Boulevard where the couple was located.
Parker recorded the call from the moment he stepped out of the car. The recording shows that officers saw Lucas “in the passenger seat with his legs outside,” and that they could see the couple was “f***ing.”
Due to the massive amount of media attention the case has received, Parker says he is glad that he and his fellow officers were recording the situation. Otherwise “the three of us would be relieved of duty right now,” said Parker.
Neither Watts or Lucas were charged with a crime.
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