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Chelsea forward Sam Kerr allegedly called police officer ‘stupid and white’ jury hears

LONDON (AP) - 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.

February 4, 2025
4 February 2025

LONDON (AP) - 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.