'Django Unchained' Actress Daniele Watts Describes LAPD Handcuffing

Daniele Watts and Brian Lucas were questioned after "indecent exposure" claim.

ByABC News
September 15, 2014, 10:36 AM

— -- Actress Daniele Watts said she feels "humbled" after recently being handcuffed and detained by Los Angeles police.

The incident in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles last week followed a 911 call for alleged "indecent exposure" involving a male and a female inside a silver Mercedes with the vehicle door open.

Photos and video of the incident surfaced over the weekend.

Watts gave her version of the events as she sat beside her partner, celebrity chef Brian Lucas, this morning on CNN.

"The police show up. I am outside of the car talking to my dad on the phone," she said. "He speaks to Brian and asks Brian for my ID."

Watts, featured in movies such as "Django Unchained" and TV shows such as "Partners," said she didn't offer the identification right away because she felt she had done nothing wrong and the officer didn't ask her directly for it.

"I believe in America and what it stands for," she said.

Lucas said he believed the incident, which happened after 3 p.m. on Thursday, was race-driven. Watts is black and he is white.

However, Watts said, "It's beyond race at this point."

"The only reason I suspected that [it was race related]," he said, "is in the beginning he came up, said, 'black and white couple.' ... [The officer] brought that up."

Unlike Watts, Lucas was not handcuffed. Lucas posted a video of the incident to his Facebook page last week.

According to the police report, "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."

Watts said today she felt what she and Lucas were doing was completely legal and didn't warrant a call to police.

"In my opinion, its not a crime to be fully clothed, showing affection in a public street in our own car," she said. "It doesn’t matter how passionately we were making out."

Lucas added, "[The officer] was definitely edging me on. He asked me questions. ... It just made me feel like I was a client and she was prostitute."

The Los Angeles Police Department noted in its release that "an internal complaint investigation has been initiated regarding this matter."