Cops Defend Handcuffing Of Django Actress

Los Angeles police officers who detained Django Unchained actress Daniele Watts acted appropriately, says the department.

She claimed she was a victim of racial profiling when she was handcuffed for "showing affection, fully clothed" to her white partner in public.

But the LAPD said on Monday that its officers followed proper protocol as they responded to a complaint of lewd conduct and indecent exposure involving a couple in a silver Mercedes along Ventura Boulevard.

Department spokeswoman Liliana Preciado told Sky News it had launched an internal investigation into Watts' complaint, but said "at this stage we don't see any wrongdoing by the officers".

The policemen demanded identification from the actress and her boyfriend, Brian Lucas, during last Thursday's incident.

Watts said on social media she refused to provide ID to the officers and walked away because she felt she had done nothing wrong.

She was handcuffed and detained in the back of the patrol car while they checked who she was.

Watts was released shortly afterwards once police determined no crime had been committed.

In audio of the arrest, obtained by celebrity news website TMZ, a female voice identified as Watts suggests the officer has detained her "just for being black".

The officer says: "Who brought up a race card? I said nothing about you being black. I have every right to ask your ID." He cites probable cause.

"And I have every right to say no," she responds. "And if you'd like to demand it you can take me down to the court office and I can make a scene about it. And you know what, I have a publicist and I work as an actor."

LAPD said citizens are required to identify themselves if requested to do so by an officer who has reasonable suspicion to believe an offence may have been committed.

The actress and her boyfriend wrote about the incident on Facebook and posted photos of a tearful Watts in handcuffs.

Watts wrote: "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."

She played a slave in Quentin Tarantino's award-winning 2012 movie Django Unchained, and has also appeared in the hit television drama Weeds.