LAPD Confuses Black Actress Kissing White Husband for Prostitute
African-American actress Danièle Watts claims she was "handcuffed and detained" by police officers from the Studio City Police Department in Los Angeles on Thursday after allegedly being mistaken for a prostitute.
According to accounts by Watts and her husband Brian James Lucas, two police officers mistook the couple for a prostitute and client when they were seen showing affection in public. When the officers asked Watts to produce a photo ID when questioned, she refused. Watts was subsequently handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser while the officers attempted to figure out who she was. The two officers released Watts shortly afterwards.
Watts, who played CoCo in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained and currently stars in Martin Lawrence vehicle Partners, posted an account of the incident on her Facebook page:
"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," wrote Watts. "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!!!!!!!"
Watt's husband Brian Lucas, who is white, claimed that the two were targeted by police for being an interracial couple. In a seperate post on his Facebook page, Lucas said that "from the questions that 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)."
http://mic.com/articles/98826/lapd-confuses-black-actress-kissing-white-husband-for-prostitute
= new reply since forum marked as read
Kick for visibility!
and it pissed me (and my whiter than white daughter) off to no end how he often he would get stopped DWB is this conservative ass town. Murrieta.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raul-a-reyes/murrieta-immigration-prot_b_5569351.html
You might have heard about our lovely suburb on the news when the racist idiots stood in front of the buses with the immigrant kids and moms on board and wouldn't let them pass. Damn, I wish I could move - sigh, mortgage is so damned low and its just too pricey to move. (Not that having a low mortgage is a bad thing).
Oh, and the shit people said to her when he was a baby/toddler made me puke...but that's too OT for this thread. 
Thanks for the thread, Blue_Tires.
want to show the police her ID.
Last edited Sun Sep 14, 2014, 06:29 AM - Edit history (1)
Racial profiling in a whole new light. Thankfully, it is the Los Angeles PD and not the Liberal Angeles PD, or I am sure there would be 'some' reason it wasn't racist. 
It is amazing the lengths which some will endure in order to ignore shit like this or claim it is something it isn't.
ETA: my bad...spoke to soon!
I value my arse. 
And BTW, those laws are essentially unconstitutional, even if the Roberts court would be all in favor of them.
On Edit: There is a reason why the sharp command "Papers, please!" is so often used as a quick identifier for a Nazi officer in the movies. Such demands for no reasonable cause are fascist, and they don't belong in the so-called "land of the free."
We are supposed to be able to walk around without being subjected to unreasonable searches or seizure by the authorities. We should not have to carry our "papers" with us at all times if we don't want to.
Here is an oldie but goodie (:sarcasm
that is kind of like what happened to this actress:
Galveston parents say cops beat girl in prostitution mistake
A Galveston couple is suing three police officers who they say arrested and beat their 12-year-old daughter after mistaking her for a prostitute.
<snip>
According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Galveston, Dymond Larae Milburn went outside her home in the 2000 block of 24th to flip a circuit breaker about 7:45 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2006.
Responding to a call that three white prostitutes were soliciting in the neighborhood <emphasis added>, the plainsclothes officers jumped out of an unmarked van on Gomez's orders and one of them grabbed the girl, who is black, the lawsuit states.
The girl contends that the officers did not identify themselves as police and that the officer who grabbed her, later identified as Roark, told her, "You're a prostitute. You're coming with me."
<snip>
There is lots more at the link. They beat that little girl bloody (including with a flashlight to the back of her head) and arrested her father when he came out to save her from what looked like a kidnapping--since they didn't even identify themselves as cops, but just grabbed her and tried to drag her into their car.
Notice, too, that the call they were responding to was for 3 white prostitutes in the area, not for one black 12-year-old!
What the fuck does "summons" have to do with it? Oh, I get it! She wasn't arrested! Oh, how progressive of the cop!
We are:
Loose
On Welfare
Angry
Mammy
All of those are prior offenses. 
Somehow - I think you "get" what I'm saying here. It all comes down to being black in America - and we are supposed to take it.
Frustrating.
you know what I mean.
You can't win here. Up hill battle.
But if this were to happen to me - I would do the same thing she would. I'd like to know who called the police on her. I think that's worth knowing.
Of course - the snot will never reveal him or her self. They just want to give the "others" a hard time. That's where they live. It's funny to them.
For trying to be rational rather than emotional.
Stick to your metaphorical guns.
Its rough being a black woman minding her own business out with her spouse giving him a smooch in public.
That's exactly like getting clearance to be around the President! 
You crack me up!
Sorry - I'm a black "prostitute by default" who often goes out in public with her white husband (John by default). Sometimes we even - laaaaaaaws NO! - kiss in public.
It's a common stereotype that all black women are easy and the only reason why a white man would be with her is because she is easy.
My husband would tell ya - Think what you want. She's a domestic terrorist but I love her anyways.
I can't imagine how he would retaliate against anyone who did this to me.
We are laughing about this in our house this morning.
My husband is Calabrese - he keeps ranting about respect. Like this happened to hiiiiis wife!
You can tell I married old school - you don't accuse a mans wife of being a prostitute unless you see her taking money. Just not done in his country. This cop would get a visit in Calabria.
Kewl story bro!
Boom Sound Derangement.
Please explain why you think it is REASONABLE for someone who is NOT committing a crime or any form of civil infraction to be STOPPED by the police in the first place?
You have stated repeatedly you would "just show them your identification" with the assumption the encounter would end there.
You do not question why the encounter occurred in the first place.
By all accounts, law enforcement in most places is understaffed, over worked, and unable to handle such things as rape kits, homicides and armed robbery, yet you do not QUESTION the judgment and wasted tax dollars involved in stopping a couple Walking Down the Street who KISSED EACH OTHER IN PUBLIC and paying a police officer an hours wage to
A) Confront them;
B) Ask for Identification;
C) Enter that Identification into the System;
D) Wait for a Response;
E) Return the Identification;
F) Apologize and/or Don't
All while irritating and intimidating the law-abiding citizens who presumably have other obligations than to be treated in such a manner.
And bonus: if you have a common name ("Michael Brown" - not the kid who was shot, but the one the freepers confused him with - father of three, in jail, owed child support, blah, blah, blah) or heaven forbid have been a victim of identity theft, or someone puts the name in wrong, or maybe you don't have any identification because you were just going for a walk, or out to breakfast (I regularly leave my purse at home when I am with my husband), then this "two second encounter" which is really taking at least twenty minutes out of my day already could literally ruin the whole damn day, with bonus attorney fees, and a happy jail time experience to boot.
Why did this experience occur in the original post?
Because the "fashion police" thought a woman was a prostitute. As a result (and this is an aspect that has me totally pissed off) they CUT HER ARM with the handcuff, handled her roughly, SCARED AND HURT her ---
And would have gotten away with it IF SHE WAS A PROSTITUTE.
Another telling issue - the only reason we have a record of this is NOT because of the police detail about it ("no record of the incident"
, but because the Law Abiding Citizen recorded it!
So, yeah, the fact you think being stopped While NOT Committing A Crime doesn't have the potential to turn into a life altering terrifying ordeal pretty much tells me you are probably a White Male. I can also probably assume you do not have many (if any) visible body art/tattoos/piercings, and are most likely over forty years of age.
I am making assumptions, but it would probably explain why you have a different view of the "role of law enforcement" - "protect and serve" - as opposed to what has become the norm for the vast majority of young minorities - "harass and arrest."
And because of all the things we learned, THAT is why law abiding citizens who are stopped while NOT committing a crime, need to remember their Rights and Responsibilities as Citizens, including not "showing their papers" so that ALL OF US, including minority youth who "dress funny" don't end up in jail, or worse, when interacting with law enforcement.
I hope this satisfies your request that I "do better" at expressing my disdain for your opinion.
Respectfully, of course.
Much better to find another rush-to-judgment thread and try again.
I would hope that if I ever made an OP that was as far off as this one, especially considering the inflammatory nature of the headline and what followed, I would at the very least apologize for my error.
Unfortunately, I don't see this happening much around here.
Of course you do. Unless KWB (KissingWhileBlack), right?
Tell me another one.
This - could have been me. I don't mean to offend but it's funny to me that you can't see that there was nothing for her to do "wrong" -
Until the cop assumed this guy's wife was a prostitute.
The cop should not have stopped them.
Oh snap! I wonder if she was wearing her ring?
You have law enforcement authority / connects - can you find out for us?
That would be scandalous!
I married a man from Southern Italy and I'm suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome" as a result. You gotta understand - even in your perfect world -
There are men who can and will get away with retaliating against this cop for EVEN thinking their wife was a prostitute.
If your wife was assumed to be a "whore" I'm guessing you would be okay with that?
"Hey! I need her ID! I think your wife is a ho!". Stop it! You'd be pissed if someone assumed your wife was a hooker. 
Look up the Mustafa Family - MN.
That was me.
I'm not even in L.E. - more of the NSA and Homeland Security function at a major wireless carrier. Steal millions of dollars of phones to send to your buddies in Pakistan and you are directly hitting my targeted 52K bonus. I retaliate.
Truthfully? I'd play the game - because I CAN retaliate. And get away with it . . . When the Corporations get in bed with the Feds - this is what happens. Rich people - even black female ones - are given ways to get even.
Low level cops never know who they are pulling over. Or stopping. They sometimes don't realize who their betters are.
I'm glad for you though. Married to a white woman right? They don't have the stigma that 1StrngBlkman shared - lay with tan become a man.
Your wife will never be accused of being a prostitute for kissing you in public. Just because she's white!
You should just sit back and smirk at your "status" now. You get to do that - safe and snug as a bug. 
"What's "wrong" with that..."
It gives implicit consent to the continued abuse of power for its own sake. No doubt, the white male will ever see the cop demanding ID in this scenario as merely an inconvenience at worst, rather than an accurate example of the inherent and institutional racism held by those who will abuse it if given the opportunity.
If you want to bury your head in the sand, meekly accept that "this is just the way thing are...", and wear fashionable i-blinders, that's on you... but I don't think too many people here are finding your justifications and rationalizations as anything other than merely justifications and rationalizations.
I'm a 37 year old woman. Why on earth should I have to carry around my ID all the damn time? I'm about to go for a bike ride on the trail. Should I have my ID with me? I'm riding with a bunch of middle age women.
FFS.
and was unable to respond until now.
This jury decision has given me renewed hope in the Democraticunderground forum, which I've been sorely lacking in for a few months. I've been a member since way back, never a prolific poster, but a prolific reader.....
It is just so different from what I'd become accustomed to and came to expect. Now it is almost an echo chamber of Yahoo comments. The ignorance, the right-wing Dems, etc. has so disheartened me.
You are sick, sadistic and depraved animals who look for any excuse to hurt someone and get off on seeing people hurt while hiding behind a badge and a great institution that was built on helping people. You ought to be treated like pedophiles and locked away from society. You have no business on the streets, you have no business having any authority over people and you have no business handling a deadly weapon.
As always the name of the game is Lie, Deny, and Deflect and it is a delusional sick cult-like culture that lies for each other and lies to themselves. This is pure unadulterated mental illness, it is a sickness permeating law enforcement that needs to be eradicated quickly before it gets way out of hand.
Sadly Police departments across the nation are staffed by these depraved animals.
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Police union gives $500 "Bounty" to officers involved in shootings
http://www.pressherald.com/2012/03/23/police-union-gives-payments-to-officers-involved-in-shootings_2012-03-24/
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These people are nothing more than street gang thugs.
