"Empire" star Taraji P. Henson (Photo : Reuters/Danny Moloshok)
Taraji P. Henson has apologized for accusing racial profiling claims against the Glendale Police Department, as her maternal instincts took the best of her in the heat of the moment.
The 44-year-old actress Henson who is renowned for her role in the series "Empire", made a public apology Instagram for wrongfully accusing the police in Glendale, California, of racially profiling her 20-year-old son at a traffic stoplight according to People magazine.
Henson stated that the job of a mother and a police officer is not easy, and sometimes people react without knowing the facts and in her case her maternal instincts got the best of her.
A footage obtained for the Oct. 18 stoplight encounter, revealed that her son Marcel Johnson was not targeted in an unlawful manner by the police officer. Instead, it shows Johnson driving through the lighted crosswalk in his Honda Civic while a pedestrian is crossing.
In the video, the officer explains that Johnson has been asked to pullover for running the yellow light. He also asks if there are any illegal substances in the car, to which Johnson admits he has marijuana but he has the legal license for it but is not carrying it in the vehicle according to The Los Angeles Times.
Henson had condemned the officer's behaviour last month in an interview and also stated that she will not to let her son go to the University fearing her son would be undergoing racial profiling in the campus also. And also said that the pulling over was bogus as her son was not issued a ticket for it.
The footage proved that the officer actually let Johnson go with a lesser citation for carrying marijuana. The officer also stated in the footage the he was not issuing him a ticket for running the yellow light because that would put a moving violation on his driving license, and issuing a citation for carrying marijuana for which he can show the prescription and pay the fine in the court.
It is a disturbing fact that Henson's son felt racially profiled. With the public apology from Henson, and the situation being clarified negative has been turned into positive.
