PA MediaChelsea striker Samantha Kerr called a Met Police officer “stupid and white” during an incident at a police station in south-west London, a jury has been told.
The Australian footballer is on trial charged with causing racially aggravated harassment to PC Stephen Lovell, in the early hours of 30 January 2023.
It is alleged that Ms Kerr and her partner, fellow footballer 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 smashed the vehicle’s rear window.
Ms Kerr, 31, denies any wrongdoing.
‘Heated moment’
At the police station, Ms Kerr is alleged to have become “abusive and insulting” towards PC Stephen Lovell.
Footage from the officer’s body worn camera was played to a jury sitting at Kingston Crown Court on Monday, in which Ms Kerr uses an expletive and tells the officer he was “stupid and white”.
Prosecution barrister Bill Emlyn Jones KC told the jury the comments left PC Lovell “shocked, upset, and humiliated”.
Ms Kerr described the entire situation as distressing and “a heated moment”.
Grace Forbes, defending, said: “Nobody disputes the words that were said.
“But simple words, even words like these, do not make you guilty of a criminal offence.”
She added: “The words were a comment, however poorly expressed, about positions of power, about privilege, and how those things might colour perception.”
PA MediaAccording to the prosecution, Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis had been drinking on the night of 29 January 2023, before deciding to take a taxi home.
The driver later called the police to complain that a woman inside his taxi was trying to smash the rear window.
The operator advised the taxi driver to pull up outside Twickenham police station and to seek the assistance of police officers there, the court heard.
PC Lovell and a fellow PC were in a marked police vehicle driving towards the station, and arrived at the same time as the taxi at about 02:20 GMT.
Mr Emlyn Jones said: “The officers saw Ms Kerr crawling out of the broken rear window of the taxi.”
The court heard that both Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis approached the police car in a “distressed state”.
PA MediaThe prosecution continued: “Inside the police station Ms Kerr said the taxi driver had collected them but had then refused to take them to Ms Kerr’s address.
“They felt that the taxi driver was kidnapping them, and so they broke the rear window in order to escape and raise the alarm.
“PC Lovell went back outside to inspect the damage to the taxi.
“The taxi driver explained one of his passengers had been sick and he had asked them to pay for the cost of cleaning it up, and they refused.
“It was at that point that he had called the police.”
Jurors were told PC Lovell tried to explain what the taxi driver had said, but they kept interrupting him.
Ms Kerr can be heard on body camera footage claiming she had herself tried to call the police when she was in the taxi, but that they had hung up on her.
When PC Lovell replied “They wouldn’t do that”, Ms Kerr swore at the officers and twice called them “stupid and white”.
The trial continues.
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