Reigning 100 meters world champion Sha’Carri Richardson has apologized to her boyfriend Christian Coleman following her recent domestic violence arrest at an airport.
Richardson was arrested on 27 July on a fourth-degree domestic violence offense for allegedly assaulting Coleman at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and was booked into South Correctional Entity in Des Moines, Washington, for more than 18 hours.
The sprinter was due to catch a flight to attend the U.S. track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she failed to qualify for the 200m at this September’s World Athletics Championships by one-hundredth of a second. She has an automatic berth in the 100m as the defending world champion.
On Monday night, the 25-year-old Richardson posted a video on her Instagram account in which she said she put herself in a “compromised situation” and she issued a written apology to Coleman on Tuesday morning.
“I love him & to him I can’t apologize enough,” wrote Richardson in all capital letters, adding that her apology “should be just as loud” as her actions. “To Christian I love you & I am so sorry,” she wrote.
She added that Coleman "came into my life & gave me more than a relationship but a greater understanding of unconditional love from what I've experienced in my past."
In the video, Richardson said she's practicing “self-reflection” and refuses “to run away but face everything that comes to me head on.”
According to the police report, an officer at the airport was notified by a Transportation Security Administration supervisor of a disturbance between Richardson and Coleman, who won the 100m world title in 2019.
The officer reviewed camera footage and observed Richardson reach out with her left arm, grab Coleman’s backpack and yank it away. Richardson then appeared to get in Coleman's way with Coleman trying to step around her. Coleman was shoved into a wall.
Later in the report, it said Richardson appeared to throw an item at Coleman, with the TSA indicating it may have been headphones.
The officer said in the report: “I was told Coleman did not want to participate any further in the investigation and declined to be a victim.”
Richardson won the 100m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and claimed a silver medal at the Paris Olympics last summer. She also helped the US 4x100m relay to an Olympic gold.
She didn't compete during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 following a positive marijuana test at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Additional reporting from Associated Press
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