Chelsea striker Sam Kerr found not guilty of racial harassment

Chelsea striker Sam Kerr has been cleared of a case of racially aggravated harassment, when she called a London police officer "stupid and white". The incident took place on January 30, 2023.

According to the prosecution, a taxi picked Kerr and her fiancé Kristie Mewis, after drinking in bars. When the occupants tried to break a glass of the cab, the driver called the police and they told him to take the footballer and her partner to the police station, instead of home.

At the police station, Kerr said that they felt they were being kidnapped when the taxi driver didn't want to take them home, and that's why they broke the window of the vehicle. Arguing with the police officer, Kerr called him "white and stupid", and that's why she is being charged for racial offence. The officer said that he felt ""shocked, upset and humiliated", as reported by BBC.

Two years later, the jury has declared her not guilty or racially aggravated harassment. "While I apologise for expressing myself poorly on what was a traumatic evening, I have always maintained that I did not intend to insult or harm anyone and I am thankful that the jury unanimously agreed", the Australian footballer said.

"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", and never intended to use whiteness as an insult.