SHORT TAKES : Officer Drew Gun, Actor Recalls

Blair Underwood, who plays a suave attorney on “L.A. Law,” once had a gun pointed at his head by a Los Angeles police officer who stopped him for no apparent reason, the actor told TV Guide.

“If you’re a young black male who drives a nice car, you’re automatically a target for the cops because it’s assumed you must be doing drugs,” Underwood said in the Feb. 3 issue of the magazine.

Underwood said he “copped an attitude” and became furious when the officer asked for his driver’s license. The officer pulled his service weapon and pointed it at the actor’s head.

Underwood said the encounter might be good material for “L.A. Law,” in which he plays attorney Jonathan Rollins. Rollins was conceived as a racially neutral character, but Underwood said it may be time for a change.

“I trusted (co-creator Steven) Bochco not to make him a token,” Underwood said. “When I first came on, we discussed we wouldn’t dwell on his race.”

Now, he said, “I would love to have them show Jonathan driving a car and being stopped because Jonathan’s never dealt with that. He’s come from money, from a very privileged background.”