AN actress, who accused Los Angeles police of violating her civil rights when they handcuffed her after responding to reports of indecent exposure, has been charged with lewd conduct, along with her boyfriend, U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday.

    Danielle Watts, best known for her role in Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 slavery western “Django Unchained,” made headlines in September when she went public to charge that she had been accosted by police largely because she is black and her boyfriend is white.

    Watts, 28, and her boyfriend Brian James Lucas, 43, were each charged with one misdemeanor count of lewd conduct, according to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday.

    A spokesman for the actress declined to comment on the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a US$1,000 fine.

    Watts was handcuffed by police Sept. 11 after they responded to a report from a passerby that she and Lucas, a celebrity chef also known as ChefBe*Live, were indecently exposed inside a silver Mercedes in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Studio City. The couple later both took to social media to accuse officers of violating her rights.

    (SD-Agencies)