An actress has been ordered to perform community service after a judge wasn’t convinced by her apology to the Los Angeles police officers she accused of racism.
Daniele Watts, who had a role in Quentin Tarantino movie Django Unchained, and her boyfriend, Brian Lucas, must carry out 15 hours of community service.
Police questioned the couple last September while investigating reports of people having sex in a car.
Watts, who is black, and Lucas, who is white, claimed they were racially profiled, accusing officers of assuming she was a prostitute.
The couple later pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace and were told to write apology letters.
In her first letter, Watts offered no direct apology, accusing the officer of sarcasm and saying the incident had provoked a “beneficial” debate about interracial relationships.
She wrote: “Hopefully you can forgive the fact that my heightened emotions disturbed what might have otherwise been a carefree stop on your way to a nice cup of coffee.”
The judge ordered the couple to try again.
Watts’ second letter apologised “for my lack of emotional control” and asked for forgiveness.
But the judge accused Watts of being “insincere and passive aggressive”, reports the Los Angeles Times.
As well as community labour, she sentenced the couple on Wednesday to two years of probation.
(c) Sky News 2015
