'Django Unchained' Actress Mistaken For A Prostitute, Accosted By LAPD

 

Danièle Watts says she was handcuffed and detained, and her wrist was "bleeding in pain"

An African-American actress who appeared in Django Unchained says she was accosted by Los Angeles police who mistakenly thought she was a prostitute.

Danièle Watts, who portrayed CoCo in Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning film and currently plays Martin Lawrence's daughter on FX's new comedy series Partners, wrote on her Facebook page that she and husband Brian James Lucas, who is white, were being affectionate in public when the incident occurred Thursday.

“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,” she wrote. "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 2 different police officers accosted me and forced me into handcuffs."

She also posted a photo of herself crying standing beside the officer and wrote that her wrist was "bleeding in pain."

 "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 continued. "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!!!!!!!"