Cheeky FE Kerry/YouTube A London police officer seen confronting a woman for flouting coronavirus lockdown rules by sitting on a park bench.

The police confronted a woman in London for flouting lockdown rules by sitting on a park bench, according to a video posted on YouTube by the woman in question.

The woman said she was “exercising mentally,” which she argued should count as the once-daily outdoor activity permitted by UK authorities.

The video ends with the woman being taken to a police van and arrested. She says she was given a fine, which she plans to appeal.

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A Londoner who said she was “exercising mentally” was arrested by the police after sitting on a park bench for nearly an hour, in apparent defiance of the UK-wide coronavirus lockdown.

This is according to an over-12-minute video the woman posted of the confrontation to YouTube on Monday.

“Arrested for being sat on a park bench! On my own!” the title says.

The woman, identified only by her username Cheeky FE Kerry, could be seen speaking with two officers next to the River Thames in the Richmond district of southwest London.

One officer, Tom, told her he came up to her about 45 minutes earlier and asked her to leave.

“I asked you why you were out, and you said you were exercising mentally,” he told her. “I said I don’t think that’s in the spirit of what’s happening.”

“Well I’m in the spirit of social distancing,” the woman replied. “I’m sat here on my own. I’m not infecting anyone. That’s the actual spirit.”

The woman went on to say she’s not afraid of catching COVID-19.

“I’m not afraid,” she said. “To be honest, if I catch something, I catch it. I’m only infecting myself.”

The officers asked her if she “would be willing to go home,” and she said “I’m willing to go home once the sun sets,” which she said was “in about an hour.”

They proceeded to get into a protracted argument over what the UK’s lockdown rules meant.

While the officer said “exercising mentally” was not “a valid reason under the law,” the woman countered that the “law doesn’t specify what the exercise is.”

The UK government’s website says the citizens can take “one form of exercise a day.” It gives examples of physical exercise, “for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household.”

Cheeky FE Kerry/YouTube The woman pointed out in the video that no one was in her immediate vicinity.

When the officer said he had no choice but to give the woman a fixed penalty notice, she refused to take it “because I’m not breaking the law.”

“I won’t accept a fixed penalty notice – you can place me under arrest and take me to the station,” she said.

The video ends with the officers taking her to a police van nearby, where about three other officers were waiting.

“You’ve been arrested now, OK,” one of the officers said as the video ended.

The woman wrote that the officers “actually gave me a lift home, which I thought was nice.”

“I will get a fixed penalty notice which naturally I will contest in court,” she said.

Cheeky FE Kerry/YouTube The video ended with the woman being led to a nearby police van.

Business Insider contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment on the incident Thursday morning. A representative said they were “aware” of the video.

They said officers confronted the woman in Richmond on Sunday around 6 p.m., about an hour after they said they had first spoken with her.

After twice refusing to leave or provide her name and address so she could be fined, she was arrested but “not handcuffed,” the police said.

They said she was let go and issued with a fixed penalty notice after she gave her personal details to the officers.

“There are lots of people who need to go out for their essential work in London, particularly key workers such as our incredible colleagues in the National Health Service,” a police representative said.

“But if we do see somebody that we think is in a place that they really shouldn’t be, then our officers will go and speak to them, we will engage, explain, and encourage them to go home.

“It’s what we do, we are very used to speaking to and engaging with people – that is our policing model in this country and something we are fiercely proud of in London. Enforcement continues to remain a last resort.”

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