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 The city's police force is investigating a complaint from
Watts, who posted a picture on Facebook last week showing her
crying next to an officer with her hands behind her back.
In a statement released over the weekend, Los Angeles police
said its officers had responded to a report from a passerby that
a couple were indecently exposed inside a silver Mercedes on
Thursday afternoon.
The officers detained Watts, who is black, and her boyfriend,
who is white, but soon determined the two had not broken any
laws and released them.
Watts' boyfriend, Los Angeles chef Brian James Lucas, wrote on
his Facebook page on Friday that he and Watts were "accosted by
police after showing our affection publicly." He added that the
police had thought she was a prostitute because of the couple's
attire and their differing skin colors.
Celebrity news outlet TMZ on Monday posted an audio clip from
the police purportedly from the incident, where Watts is heard
confronting a police officer who asked for her identification
after saying he was called to the area because someone reported
"lewd acts in the car." Watts declines to give the officer her
ID.
The actress says "Do you know how many times I've been called,
the cops have been called just for being black, because we're
black against white? I'm just being really honest."
The police officer then responds "Who brought up the race card?
Why?"
In the nearly three minute-long audio clip, Watts is heard
becoming increasingly upset as the police officer continues
asking for her ID, and at one point, she mentions "I have a
publicist and I work as an actor at this studio."
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The incident occurred near the CBS Radford studios in Studio City,
about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Hollywood.
Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Officer Wendy Reyes said
the audio appeared to be from the incident, but she could not
confirm how TMZ obtained the recording.
Watts is best known for her supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's
2012's slavery western film "Django Unchained," and more recently
starred alongside Kelsey Grammar and Martin Lawrence in FX show
"Partners."
"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," Watts wrote on her Facebook page.
Watts' representatives did not respond to calls for comment Monday,
although she and Lucas appeared on CNN, where the actress defended
her decision to not hand her ID to the police.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy, additional reporting by Curtis Skinner
in San Francisco; Editing by Mary Milliken and Andrew Hay)
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