Daniele Watts
Daniele Watts

STUDIO CITY—Daniele Watts, the actress who appeared in the movie “Django Unchained” alongside Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kerry Washington, was detained by authorities from the Los Angeles Police Department on September 11 near the CBS Studios lot.

Officers responded to the scene after 911 calls were placed of two people engaging in inappropriate behavior in a public setting.Watts was inside a vehicle with her boyfriend where they were alleged to be having sex.

She claimed racial profiling was intact during her arrest as she refused to present her ID to officers when they requested it from her. Watts was with her boyfriend, Chef Brian James Lucas. Lucas provided his ID to authorities when asked.

The actress posted the following statement on her Facebook page, “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.

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.

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!!!!!!!

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 stop the cathartic tears and rage from flowing out of me. 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.

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. I KNOW THAT I WILL ALWAYS BE FREE BECAUSE THAT IS THE NATURE OF MY SPIRIT.

And moreover, I deeply enjoyed connecting with the cops who detained me. I allowed myself to be honest about my anger, frustration, and rage as tears flowed from my eyes. The tears I cry for a country that calls itself “the land of the free and the home of the brave” and yet detains people for claiming that very right.

Today I exist with courage, knowing that I am blessed to have experienced what I did today. All of those feelings, no matter how uncomfortable. These feelings are what builds my internal strength, my ability to grow through WHATEVER may happen to me.

That internal knowing is what guides me in this world. Not the law, not fear, not mistrust of government or cops or anything else.

In this moment there is a still small voice whispering to me. It says: You are love. You are free. You are pure.”

TMZ.com obtained a photograph which indicates the actress may have been engaging in appropriate behavior in public with the car door open.

Lucas noted on his Facebook page, that he and Watts were “accosted by police officers after showing our affection publicly.”

“From the questions that he asked me as D was already on her phone with her dad, I could tell that whoever called on us (including the officers), saw a tatted RAWKer white boy and a hot bootie shorted black girl and thought we were a HO (prostitute) & a TRICK (client).  This is something that happened to her and her father when she was 16. What an assumption to make!!!,” Lucas added.

He indicated that Watts was “roughly” put into the back of the cop car until they discovered her identity. Lucas added while she was being handcuffed they cut her wrist.

LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck held a press conference regarding the incident where he stated “I have opened an investigation into the officers actions, but I wanna say this based on my current review, I have reviewed the audio recordings. I have looked at photographs that had been taken or had people look at photographs taken. We have done interviews with witnesses in the initial review and it appears officers did exactly what the people of Los Angeles would expect.”

“They responded to a report of a crime and upon their arrival they investigated that crime and took proper actions,” he added.

By LaDale Anderson and Ani Martirosyan