Chelsea forward Sam Kerr allegedly called a police officer “stupid and white” a jury heard Monday.
The 31-year-old Kerr, who is one of the top women’s soccer players in the world, is on trial charged with causing racially aggravated harassment to Metropolitan Police officer Pc Stephen Lovell during an incident in south-west London, in the early hours of Jan. 30 2023.
The Australian captain, who is also her country’s all-time leading scorer, is alleged to have become “abusive and insulting” towards Pc Lovell.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC told a Kingston Crown Court jury that Kerr and her partner, West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis, had been out drinking when they were driven to Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained the passengers refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick and that one of them had smashed the vehicle’s rear window.
Footage from Pc Lovell’s body worn camera was played to jurors, in which Kerr tells Pc Lovell and Pc Samuel Limb that she and Mewis were “very scared” and “trying to escape” the cab when they damaged the vehicle.
She can be heard saying: “I hate to break it to you, but when a male is driving a f(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)ing car, for us, for two women, it’s f(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)ed, it’s f(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)ing scary.”
In the footage, both Kerr and Mewis appear intoxicated and distressed, with Mewis visibly crying.
The 31-year-old Kerr can also be heard telling the two police officers: “This taxi driver held me and her hostage for about 15 minutes.
“I was like, ‘Please, let us out and I will pay whatever you want’.
“We were begging to get out of there. We were trying to escape - we were trapped.
“You have to understand the emergency that both of us felt. What do you expect us to do as women in that situation?”
In the footage, both soccer players also accuse the officers of believing the taxi driver’s version of events over their own.
Pc Lovell, who gave evidence on Monday, told the jury that Kerr’s comments that he was “stupid and white” made him feel “upset”.
He is to be cross-examined by Kerr’s defence lawyer Grace Forbes when the trial resumes on Tuesday.
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11 Comments
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Jay
Nope. Let's get this straight - if a white player had called a cop "stupid and black," their career would be over, their endorsements gone, and the media would be calling for their head.
But when Sam Kerr says it, the same people who shriek "RACISM" over everything suddenly pretend it doesn’t count. Funny how "anti-racists" are always the first to excuse racism when it’s aimed at white people. Hypocrisy at its finest.
By any objective metric, what Kerr said was blatant racism. Throw the book at her.
Fighto!
Horrible woman who comes from a notorious crime family in Western Australia. One of the abused police officers revealed in court that Kerr was boasting about how much money she had compared to the officer, even showing her bank balance on her phone.
Just a nasty piece of work. If Chelsea have any ethics - highly unlikely- she will be sacked if found guilty.
Hawk
Charming. Anyway, there were two of them, both fit and strong athletes, against the single male driver.
As to the officers believing the driver over them, it's the presumably sober driver's word over that of the two drunk women. Was the window really broken? Was there vomit in the car? Easily verifiable facts. And he did drive them to the police station so he obviously felt confident about his own position.
Finally, as to the clearly racist language, as @Jay says above, reverse the colours and condemnation would be swift and harsh. However, legal punishment should be applied for the damage to the cab, but for language? I'm not so sure.
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K3PO
More likely the English justice system will find any white person involved guilty, as usual.
Toblerone
A real class act.
Jimizo
Very unpleasant person by the sounds of it.
A lengthy ban should be in order here.
Ken
There are politicians that say that and get away with it. It is wrong yes, but hold everyone accountable, not just the people who offended you
Jay
Really? I'm going to assume this isn't just a bit of hyperbole from you Ken, so could you tell us when a politician has ever referred to someone as "stupid and black?"
Sid
You can tell by the photos that she seems to think this is all a bit of a laugh. If you believe their account of the incident then it's the taxi driver who would not only lose his taxi license, but face imprisonment for a serious crime of taking two women hostage. That sums up the footballers whole mentality. Not only playing the race card, but the unsafe women card, making it more difficult for women who really are unsafe to deal with their situation.
tooheysnew
I wonder what her ‘privileged white’ teammates will think of her in the change room
browny1
Fighto -
I know her brother - a famous AFL player - certainly did some bad stuff, getting mixed up with drugs and all and I think he tried to burn down the family home.
I know his father was also a well known footballer.
But what was the rest of the family involved with?
Not up with that kind of Australian news.