Australian women's soccer team captain Sam Kerr was arrested in London for allegedly racially abusing a police officer, and the case recently went to trial in a UK court. According to court sources, Kerr's behavior caused the officer to be "harassed, alarmed, or distressed."
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02-24, 2025The jury watched a video showing Kerr and her partner, Kristie Mewis, attempting to climb out of the taxi's rear window after a dispute with the taxi driver over compensation for vomit in the vehicle, fearing they were being kidnapped. In the video, Kerr twice called Officer Stephen Lovell a "stupid white bastard" and insisted on going to court to resolve the issue, ultimately leading to her arrest.
The incident occurred in the early hours of January 30, 2023, when Kerr and American international Mewis were out celebrating Kerr's hat-trick in a Chelsea match. Police witnesses stated that the two were "drunk and emotional" and in a "distressed state."
Kerr's lawyer, Grace Forbes, stated at Kingston Crown Court that Kerr "had no intention of harassing, alarming, or distressing Officer Lovell," and even if the allegation were true, it did not constitute racial discrimination. She argued: "Samantha Kerr held no hostility towards Officer Lovell because he was white, and these remarks, however inelegant, were a comment on power, privilege, and how those things affect people's perceptions."
Under UK law, the maximum penalty is 26 weeks in prison. Kerr pleaded not guilty to the charges and sat in the dock wearing black clothing. Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Hughes presented the case for the prosecution, including a roughly 30-minute video taken by a colleague of Officer Lovell's using a body-worn camera. The video showed Kerr and Mewis arguing with Officer Lovell and his colleagues, sometimes becoming aggressive, and at other times tearfully explaining that they believed the driver had kidnapped them and feared they would be raped, so they tried to break the car window to escape.
Kerr said in the video: "I hate to say it, but when a man is driving a fucking car, for us, for two women, that's fucking, that's fucking scary." They repeatedly mentioned the case of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered in 2021 in London by Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer at the time.
Kerr added: "This taxi driver held me and her hostage for approximately 15 minutes. I was saying, 'Please, let us out, I'll pay you whatever you want.' We begged to get out, we tried to run away—we were trapped. You have to understand the urgency we felt as two women. What do you expect us to do in that situation?"
Officer Lovell stated in the video that while he understood their fear, these were hypothetical situations and "didn't happen," while the damage to the taxi "did happen." He offered two options: pay the fare, cleaning fee, and the cost of the damaged window, totaling just under $2000; or be arrested, charged with criminal damage, and present their case in court.
Kerr said: "I choose option two." Just minutes earlier, she had said: "I'm not paying those dodgy cunts for the window. I'll sit here until four in the morning and then get Chelsea's lawyers to deal with it. I'm not backing down." She then called Lovell a "stupid white bastard." Kerr was subsequently arrested for criminal damage and racially aggravated public order offense. Kerr and Mewis later paid for the damages, and the criminal damage charge was dropped.
Kerr's parents, Roger and Roxanne, and younger brother, Levi, flew in from Perth and were present in court. Due to media attention, they were surrounded by British and Australian journalists in the public gallery. The trial is expected to last four days, and Kerr is expected to testify on Tuesday.
