Django Actress Handcuffed After Kissing Husband

[Jazzy]

US actress Daniele Watts has said she was "handcuffed and detained" by two Los Angeles police officers who apparently mistook her for a prostitute.

The Django Unchained star said she was approached by the officers after kissing her white husband, Brian James Lucas, in public.

According to accounts on the couple's Facebook pages, Ms Watts was talking on her mobile phone to her father when an officer approached.

Believing she had done nothing wrong, she said she walked away. Two other officers from the Studio City Police Department then arrived and asked for ID.

When she refused they handcuffed her and put her in the back of their car while they checked who she was.

She was released shortly afterwards.

Ms Watts wrote: "Today 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.

"When the officer arrived, I was standing on the sidewalk by a tree. I was talking to my father on my cell phone. 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 two different police officers accosted me and forced me into handcuffs."

Pictures of the incident taken by Watts' husband show the actress looking visibly upset as one of the police officers addresses her.

"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," she added in her Facebook post.

"I was sitting in that back of this cop car, filled with adrenaline, my wrist bleeding in pain, and it occurred to me, that even there, I STILL HAD POWER OVER MY OWN SPIRIT.

"Those cops could not stop me from expressing myself ... They could not force me to feel bad about myself. Yes, they had control over my physical body, but not my emotions. My feelings. My spirit was, and still is FREE."

She added: "I will continue to look any "authority figure" in the eye without fear. NO POLICE OFFICER OR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ME. WE ARE EQUALS."

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department told Variety magazine there was no record of the incident as Ms Watts was not brought into the station for questioning.

Source

Do you think she handled the situation correctly or did the cops overreact?

 

[Nebulous]

Django was a great movie!

As for this story, she did nothing wrong. Cops suck sometimes.

 

[DrLeftover]

Again, she refused the reasonable request of a uniformed officer.

If she had shown her ID, end of story.

 

[Jazzy]

Believing she had done nothing wrong, she said she walked away. Two other officers from the Studio City Police Department then arrived and asked for ID.

When she refused they handcuffed her and put her in the back of their car while they checked who she was.

I agree with Doc. All she had to do was show them her ID and it would have been over right then and there. Moral: Do what the cops tell you to do.

 

[Nebulous]

Showing ID automatically means you're not a suspected hooker?

 

[Jazzy]

Showing ID automatically means you're not a suspected hooker?

She walked away and disregarded direct orders to show ID.

 

[Nebulous]

She shouldn't have done that, but he cops shouldn't have approached her in the first place. She wasn't doing anything wrong. They just wanted another black person to harass (maybe).

 

[Jazzy]

She shouldn't have done that, but he cops shouldn't have approached her in the first place. She wasn't doing anything wrong. They just wanted another black person to harass (maybe).

Perhaps they have a prostitute problem in that area. Who knows? All I know is if she had just done what they ordered her to do, then this wouldn't have even happened.

 

[Dee]

I have to wonder, honestly, what would have happened if she were a white woman. Would they have stopped her if they saw her kissing her husband? Or were they legitimately concerned that she was soliciting sex from a man she was kissing? My feelings are not mixed. I feel she was racially profiled in this instance, because...honestly, kissing a man is a crime? Give me a break. I don't know this particular area, so I can't say whether there is an issue with this, but to suspect someone of doing something wrong by expressing love for your husband is ridiculous. Yeah, sure, she should have showed her ID just to get out of the situation, but I don't think the cops' suspicion was legitimate.

 

[Damian]

Believing she had done nothing wrong, she said she walked away. Two other officers from the Studio City Police Department then arrived and asked for ID.

When she refused they handcuffed her and put her in the back of their car while they checked who she was.

I agree with Doc. All she had to do was show them her ID and it would have been over right then and there. Moral: Do what the cops tell you to do.

I disagree, cops can and will be very manipulative and violent if they see you don't know your rights. Better, the moral would be know your rights but also your obligations.

 

[Gizmo]

I watched that movie in weekend

 

[DrLeftover]

I disagree, cops can and will be very manipulative and violent if they see you don't know your rights. Better, the moral would be know your rights but also your obligations.

And 'crooks' can and will be very manipulative.....

Yes, know your rights and obligations, and DON'T BE STUPID about either.

 

[Nebulous]

I have to wonder, honestly, what would have happened if she were a white woman. Would they have stopped her if they saw her kissing her husband? Or were they legitimately concerned that she was soliciting sex from a man she was kissing? My feelings are not mixed. I feel she was racially profiled in this instance, because...honestly, kissing a man is a crime? Give me a break. I don't know this particular area, so I can't say whether there is an issue with this, but to suspect someone of doing something wrong by expressing love for your husband is ridiculous. Yeah, sure, she should have showed her ID just to get out of the situation, but I don't think the cops' suspicion was legitimate.

Also, you would think a prostitute would only perform services paid for in a semi-private/ private place. Simple signs of affection (like kissing) wouldn't be a service someone would request from a hooker so she probably wouldn't be doing that in the first place, if she was indeed a hooker.

 

[Dee]

I have to wonder, honestly, what would have happened if she were a white woman. Would they have stopped her if they saw her kissing her husband? Or were they legitimately concerned that she was soliciting sex from a man she was kissing? My feelings are not mixed. I feel she was racially profiled in this instance, because...honestly, kissing a man is a crime? Give me a break. I don't know this particular area, so I can't say whether there is an issue with this, but to suspect someone of doing something wrong by expressing love for your husband is ridiculous. Yeah, sure, she should have showed her ID just to get out of the situation, but I don't think the cops' suspicion was legitimate.

Also, you would think a prostitute would only perform services paid for in a semi-private/ private place. Simple signs of affection (like kissing) wouldn't be a service someone would request from a hooker so she probably wouldn't be doing that in the first place, if she was indeed a hooker.

Exactly. This screams more affection than an illegal business transaction, especially in a place where police are crawling because of suspected prostitution. I just think this whole thing is bullshit, and that these cops need to get their act together. Pretty sure they don't stop people, much, for kissing a man in public.

 

[DrLeftover]

Also, you would think a prostitute would only perform services paid for in a semi-private/ private place. Simple signs of affection (like kissing) wouldn't be a service someone would request from a hooker so she probably wouldn't be doing that in the first place, if she was indeed a hooker.

You've led a rather sheltered life haven't you?

Many 'working girls' meet their customers in public locations. Some ONLY meet their customers in public locations. And many of them will pretend to be very friendly with their chosen client to convey the illusion of their being 'on a date' instead of 'on the job'.

Depends on the local market.

 

[Nebulous]

Also, you would think a prostitute would only perform services paid for in a semi-private/ private place. Simple signs of affection (like kissing) wouldn't be a service someone would request from a hooker so she probably wouldn't be doing that in the first place, if she was indeed a hooker.

You've led a rather sheltered life haven't you?

Many 'working girls' meet their customers in public locations. Some ONLY meet their customers in public locations. And many of them will pretend to be very friendly with their chosen client to convey the illusion of their being 'on a date' instead of 'on the job'.

Depends on the local market.

Here comes the hooker expert to prove me wrong!

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

I cant blame this woman for not complying with the cops when she had broken no law and they had no proof she had broken any law. I would have told the cops to pound salt. If they would have seen a law broken from her or she fit a description of a suspect in the area and the cops gave this information to her then she should have shown I.D. Otherwise cops need to stop acting like asses before no one trusts any of them including the good ones anymore.

 

[Damian]

I disagree, cops can and will be very manipulative and violent if they see you don't know your rights. Better, the moral would be know your rights but also your obligations.

And 'crooks' can and will be very manipulative.....

Yes, know your rights and obligations, and DON'T BE STUPID about either.

Exactly my point, they're pretty much the same but cops have the advantage of 'authority'. Truth be told american police are thugs with guns for the most part.