Bodycam footage of Sha’Carri Richardson’s recent arrest was released Wednesday amid her domestic violence altercation with her boyfriend at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Richardson is seen in the video arguing with a responding police officer and calling her boyfriend, fellow sprinter Christian Coleman, a “coward.”
“This is the position that Christian puts me into,” Richardson said to the police in the Seattle airport, according to bodycam footage. “Because he’s a coward and I don’t want anything to do with him from this point going forward. My name is Sha’Carri Richardson. Have no problem with letting you know who I am. Haven’t put my hands on him. We had an argument, I will be honest about that.”
Richardson, 25, then gave her identification to the officer who was moving on to talk to Coleman.
“But yeah, you’re a coward,” Richardson said, now turning to talk to her boyfriend. “You’re a f–king coward. … I will never f–k with you again.”
When she was placed under arrest, she began yelling at him as officers put handcuffs on her.
“You’re under arrest for assault,” one officer said to her.
Richardson then denied assaulting him when another officer said, “We have video cameras.”
She continued, saying, “Christian, are you serious right now? Christian, I am going to go to jail because of you right now.”
Richardson then asked if she could get bail from the officers, who told her that would not be happening.
The Olympic gold medalist continued as she got put in the back of the police car, asking if she could take her handcuffs off, but she was also denied that request and began crying.
“My name is Sha’Carri Richardson … I don’t have anything on me. Can you please take these off? I am not a criminal. I had an argument with my boyfriend,” she said.
Surveillance footage shows that Richardson had shoved Coleman multiple times, even once shoving him into a wall as he continued to walk away.
Richardson has since apologized for the ugly incident.
“I apologize to Christian. He came into my life & gave me more than a relationship but a greater understanding of unconditional love from what I’ve experienced in the past,” she wrote.
“Due to my past trauma & pain. I was blind & blocked off to not only receive it but give it. I love him & to him I can’t apologize enough. My apologize should be just as loud as my actions honestly louder. To Christian I love you & I am so sorry.”
Richardson, a two-time medalist in the Olympics with one gold and one silver, said that she is actively seeking help on the matter.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
