Sha’Carri Richardson’s boyfriend defends her for alleged assault against him

Olympic gold medalist Sha’Carri Richardson was arrested last weekend for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend, fellow sprinter Christian Coleman.

The couple were at the Seattle Tacoma Airport on Sunday when an officer at the airport was notified by a Transportation Security Administration supervisor of a disturbance between Richardson and Coleman, according to the police report, via The Associated Press.

Richardson is alleged to have grabbed Coleman’s backpack, yanked it, shoved Coleman into a wall and threw headphones at him. The incident occurred days before the United States Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Coleman declined to be a victim in the case, a police report said, and he made it very clear that he wants to move on from the “sucky situation.”

In fact, Coleman believed the arrest was too far.

“I don’t feel like she should have been arrested. I mean people have discussions and emotions and stuff like that. She has things that she needs to work on for herself, of course. So do I, so do you, so does everybody. But I’m the type of guy who’s in the business of extending grace, and mercy and love,” Coleman told reporters this weekend at the USATF event.

“I look at situations like this, take a step back, analyze it self-mentally, and then just try to see what you can do to be your best self… She’s a human being, and a great person. We’ve been good teammates all year… She has a lot of things going on, a lot of emotions and forces going on inside of her that not only I can’t understand, but nobody can. She’s one of one. And I’m one of one too.”

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Richardson won the 100 at the 2023 world championships in Budapest, Hungary, and finished with the silver medal in the event at the Paris Games last summer. She also helped take the 4×100 relay to an Olympic gold.

The 25-year-old was going to compete in Tokyo four years ago, but she tested positive for cannabis. She accepted a one-month suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, making her ineligible for the 100 meters. She was also not selected for the 4×100 relay team, delaying her Olympic debut until Paris.

This wasn’t Richardson’s first controversy at an airport. The track star was booted off a plane in January 2023 after a dispute with a flight attendant who she said spoke to her in a disrespectful manner.

Richardson missed qualifying for the 200-meter final by one-hundredth of a second. She has a bye in the 100-meter after winning the world title in that event two years ago.

Both Coleman and Richardson won gold at the world championships in 2023 for the 4×100 meter. Coleman also won the event in 2019 as well as the 100-meter.

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