diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/com/github/plokhotnyuk/jsoniter_scala/core/UnsafeUtils.scala b/core/src/main/scala/com/github/plokhotnyuk/jsoniter_scala/core/UnsafeUtils.scala
index a62f1b9f9..822feb22f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/com/github/plokhotnyuk/jsoniter_scala/core/UnsafeUtils.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/com/github/plokhotnyuk/jsoniter_scala/core/UnsafeUtils.scala
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@ object UnsafeUtils {
   }.getOrElse((null, 0L, 0L))
 
   private[jsoniter_scala] final def getLatin1Array(s: String): Array[Byte] =
-    if (stringCoderOffset == 0 || unsafe.getByte(s, stringCoderOffset) != 0) null
+    if (stringCoderOffset == 0 || (s eq null) || unsafe.getByte(s, stringCoderOffset) != 0) null
     else unsafe.getObject(s, stringValueOffset).asInstanceOf[Array[Byte]]
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/com/github/plokhotnyuk/jsoniter_scala/core/UnsafeUtilsSpec.scala b/core/src/test/scala/com/github/plokhotnyuk/jsoniter_scala/core/UnsafeUtilsSpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c1eaaa6e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/com/github/plokhotnyuk/jsoniter_scala/core/UnsafeUtilsSpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package com.github.plokhotnyuk.jsoniter_scala.core
+
+import org.scalatest.{Matchers, WordSpec}
+
+class UnsafeUtilsSpec extends WordSpec with Matchers {
+  "UnsafeUtils" should {
+    "be safe when getLatin1Array is called" in {
+      UnsafeUtils.getLatin1Array("s")
+      UnsafeUtils.getLatin1Array(null) shouldBe null
+    }
+  }
+}