'Django Unchained' Actress Ordered To Apologize To Police, Sgt. Says Officers 'Vindicated'
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — An actress who accused Los Angeles police of racial profiling when they investigated a report she was having sex with her boyfriend in a parked car has been ordered to apologize to officers as part of a plea deal.
Daniele Watts, who appeared in "Django Unchained," pleaded no contest Monday to disturbing the peace with loudness.
Los Angeles city attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan says Watts and her boyfriend Brian Lucas, who entered the same plea, were sentenced to 40 hours of community and must write apology letters to three officers and the occupants of a building near where they were arrested last year.
Lewd conduct charges against the pair will be dismissed when the terms of the deal are completed.
Lou Shapiro, an attorney for Watts and her boyfriend, says the actress will apologize for her comments to police.
Sgt. Jim Parker, one of the officers who responded to the call, said officers involved feel "vindicated" by the resolution but added he feels the community at large should be acknowledged.
"I think the community and the LAPD as a whole deserve the apology more than just me," he said.
Parker generated headlines as well when he released audio from his personal recording device after the incident garnered media attention.
He says he gave the recording to the media to clear his name, leading to an internal investigation against him. According to Parker, he could now face termination because the ordeal became a "media event."
"The department is trying to save face because no action was taken at the time," Parker said. "They had the recording but they were sitting on it. I don't know what the issue was. But I was not going to sit on it."
Parker says he supports the Police Commission's recent vote to equip all of his officers with body cameras.
"Body cameras are going to show us doing things more right 99 percent of the time than more wrong," he continued.
The LAPD declined to comment on any internal investigation.
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