Police officer felt ‘belittled’ after incident with Chelsea’s Sam Kerr, court hears

LONDON (AP) - A police officer said he felt "belittled and upset" following an incident involving Chelsea forward Samantha Kerr, a court heard on Tuesday.

Kerr, Australia’s captain, is on trial charged with causing racially aggravated harassment to Metropolitan police officer Stephen Lovell in south-west London in the early hours of Jan. 30, 2023.

It is alleged that Kerr, 31, 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 that they had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick, and that one of them smashed the vehicle's rear window.

The women told officers the driver had been "acting in a crazy way" by driving very fast, repeatedly stopping and speeding up again, locking them in the car, and refusing to let them go for about 15 minutes, Kingston Crown Court heard as the trial continued on Tuesday.

At the police station, Kerr is alleged to have become "abusive and insulting" towards Lovell, calling him "stupid and white.”

Kerr, who is one of best women's soccer players in the world, accepts making the comments but denies that they amount to the charge.

The Crown Prosecution Service originally decided not to charge Kerr, the court heard.

It was put to Lovell that he only provided a statement alleging that Kerr's comments had caused alarm or harassment after that CPS decision.

In his first statement to the CPS, the officer made no mention of the "stupid and white" comment having an impact on him, the jury was told.

Police submitted a request to review the CPS decision not to prosecute, and it responded that the outcome would be limited to an apology, the court heard.

Prosecutors later requested further evidence, and a second statement from Lovell was provided in December 2023 mentioning the alleged impact.

He read a section of the statement to the court which said the comments made him "shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated.”

The charge was authorized later in December 2023, nearly a year after the incident.

Grace Forbes, defending Kerr, said during cross-examination: "The only reason you made that statement was because the Crown Prosecution Service had declined to authorize a criminal charge to prosecute Ms Kerr."

He responded "no" before agreeing that officers were dealing with whether to pursue prosecution in August 2023.

"Throughout July and August 2023, the Women's World Cup was playing," the defense lawyer said.

Lovell responded: "If you say so, yes."

Forbes said "Ms Kerr was playing for her country" and "she would have been all over TV - do you recall seeing her?"

The officer denied seeing the striker on TV before the defense barrister said "this person who made you feel unimportant.”

She added: "You were determined to pursue this person, weren't you?"

Lovell said "yes" and Forbes asked "through the criminal courts?"

The officer said "yes" again.

During re-examination by prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones, Lovell told the jury that being called "stupid" had made him feel "belittled and upset.”

Jones asked if his race had "any relevance as far as you can see to what was going on," and Lovell said "no" and later added that the reference to him being white "upset me, I guess.”

The prosecutor asked: "Is that correct, Pc Lovell, that you just made something up to get a charge over the line?" He replied: "No, I didn't make it up to get a charge over the line."