Kerr denies ‘whiteness as insult’ against police

Samantha Kerr, the Chelsea striker, has denied using “whiteness as an insult” when she confronted police at Twickenham station, calling one officer “stupid and white.”

The Australian international is accused of invoking racist abuse against PC Stephen Lovell in a confrontation in south-west London on January 30th, 2023.

When it was put to her under cross-examination at Kingston Crown Court that she “chose to show hostility” towards the officer “because of his whiteness”, she said “that’s not what I meant”.

Ms Kerr was with her partner, West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis, when the incident allegedly happened.

The striker has previously claimed that the couple was taken to Twickenham police station after she “spitted vomit” out of his car window while Ms Mewis smashed the rear window while the driver had locked the doors.

At the station, Ms Kerr is alleged to have become “abusive and insulting” towards PC Lovell.

At the court on Thursday, Ms Kerr was asked by prosecutors if she was using PC Lovell’s “whiteness as an insult”.

She responded: “No, that’s not what I meant”.

According to Ms. Kerr, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC said, “You also chose to show hostility to him because of his whiteness.”

To which Ms Kerr replied: “That’s not what I meant”.

Mr Emlyn Jones replied: “It’s what you did, isn’t it”?

“It’s what I did, yes”, replied Ms Kerr.

In reference to her calling PC Lovell “stupid and white”, the prosecutor asked Ms Kerr: “What did his race have to do with anything”?

Ms. Kerr responded, “I thought he was abused because he saw me as something I’m not.”

Ms. Kerr was also interrogated about why she mentioned Chelsea and her attorneys in her conversation with the station’s police officers.

She said she was trying to “make myself feel protected, bluff”.

Mr. Emlyn Jones told Ms. Kerr that she was “throwing your weight about,” but she insisted that she wasn’t.

She claimed that the police were racially motivated during the incident, but he said there was “no basis and no evidence.”

The court previously heard on Wednesday that she had sworn at the police and said “this is a racial thing”.

When asked about these remarks, Ms. Kerr responded, “I thought they were treating me differently because they perceived my skin differently, particularly PC Lovell’s behavior.

“The way he later arrested me for criminal damage, despite Kristie claiming it was only her (who broke the window in the taxi)”

“At the time, I thought they were trying to put it on me”.

She added on Thursday: “(It was) the way he was responding to me, cutting me off, names he was calling me, being dismissive”.

On Thursday, Ms. Mewis also testified in court.

She claimed that she had never driven that quickly before and that the experience was “like nothing I’ve experienced.”

I didn’t know if it was a kidnapping or if we were going to crash because I felt out of control and as though someone else was controlling me, which was obviously very frightening.

When asked about how police treated them after the incident, Ms Mewis told the court:” PC Lovell was immediately dismissive. He wasn’t believing what we were saying.

The driver was dismissive in a way that he didn’t want it to be true, and we were saying we had been taken against our will because we couldn’t get out and the driver was driving crazy.

The story was different or they were putting it back on us, the author said, “it felt a little like gaslighting.”

When asked if there was a difference between how the police handled them, Ms. Mewis responded, “Yes. With Sam, PC Lovell was snider and shorter.

Ms. Mewis claimed that she believed it was her true feelings when she was confronted by the prosecution about calling the officers “stupid and white.”

” I think she has been treated differently, and spoken to differently for her whole life.

And I believe she was experiencing the same emotions that she had previously experienced and what I have witnessed.