A jury has found Chelsea striker Sam Kerr not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment after calling a police officer “stupid and white”.
The Australian football star was charged after an incident in southwest London in the early hours of 30 January 2023.
Kingston Crown Court was told 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.
The driver had 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.
At the police station, Kerr was accused of becoming “abusive and insulting” towards PC Stephen Lovell, calling him “f****** stupid and white”.
During the trial, she denied suggesting PC Lovell was “stupid because he was white” and that her remark amounted to the charge of causing racially aggravated harassment.
She told the court she “feared for my life” as she and her partner were “trapped” in the back of a taxi, moments before Ms Mewis smashed the vehicle’s rear window.
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Judge Peter Lodder KC said after the verdict: “I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation.
“I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”
During the trial, Ms Kerr said she regretted the way she expressed herself but added: “I feel the message was still relevant”.
She denied using “whiteness as an insult” and claimed: “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not…
“I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”
The court heard how Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis felt “dismissed” by Pc Lovell after explaining how they had been “trapped” in the back of a taxi and “held against our will”.
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Ms Mewis smashed the taxi’s rear window before the pair climbed out of the vehicle, which was parked near Twickenham police station.
The court heard that at the station, Ms Kerr, her partner and Pc Lovell got into a “heated argument”, and Ms Kerr told police “this is a racial f****** thing”.
She told the jury: “I believed were treating me differently because of what they perceived to be the colour of my skin – particularly Pc Lovell’s behaviour.
“The way he was accusing me of lying, and later arresting me for criminal damage even though Kristie said it was just her (who smashed the taxi’s window).
“At the time, I thought they were trying to put it on me.”
