The Django Unchained actor Daniele Watts and her boyfriend have entered not-guilty pleas over lewd conduct charges in relation to a highly publicised incident in which they accused a police officer of racial bias.
Watts and Brian Lucas entered the pleas, denying the misdemeanour charges, at a brief hearing in Los Angeles on Tuesday, said their attorney, Lou Shapiro. They did not appear in court.
The couple were detained, though not arrested, by police last September after a complaint that they were having sex in their car, which was parked outside CBS studios in the Studio City area of Los Angeles.
After the incident Watts, who played the slave Coco in Quentin Tarantino’s film Django Unchained, and Lucas, a celebrity chef, complained on social media that the police had mistaken them for a sex worker and client.
Several African American activists initially defended Watts but opinion turned and they asked the actor to apologise after LAPD sergeant Jim Parker leaked a recording of the encounter to the news site TMZ.com.
In the recording, Watts sounded distraught and refused to show her identification. She accused Parker of singling out the couple because they were mixed race.
“Who brought up the race card?” Parker asked.
“I’m bringing it up,” said Watts.
“I said nothing about you being black and I have every right to ask for your ID,” responded Parker.
Watts said she and Lucas had merely been kissing. The actor was handcuffed, put in the back of a police car and questioned by the officers after refusing to confirm her identity and walking away.
Watts posted pictures on her Facebook page of an injury to her wrist, which she said had been sustained when she was handcuffed, as well as a picture of her in tears with her hands restrained behind her back and an officer questioning her.
Parker strongly disputed the allegation of racial bias, insisting he was right to investigate after a member of the public supplied a description of the make and licence plate of the car and a description of Watts and Lucas.
State prosecutors decided to prosecute the pair for lewd conduct, a crime punishable by up to six months in jail. The case is due to be called again on 23 February.
