U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson arrested at Washington airport on domestic violence offense

Reigning 100-metre world champion Sha'Carri Richardson was arrested last weekend for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Richardson was arrested Sunday on a fourth-degree domestic violence offence, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press. On Thursday, she ran in the opening round of the women's 100 metres at U.S. track and field championships in Eugene, Ore. She has an automatic bye to the world championships in September in Tokyo as the defending champion.

The 25-year-old Richardson was booked into the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) in Des Moines, Wash., at 6:54 p.m. last Sunday and released Monday at 1:13 p.m.

"USATF is aware of the reports and is not commenting on this matter," USA Track and Field said in a statement.

Richardson's agent did not immediately reply to an email request for comment.

The police report said an officer at the airport was notified by a Transportation Security Administration supervisor of a disturbance between Richardson and her boyfriend, sprinter Christian Coleman.

The officer reviewed camera footage and observed Richardson reach out with her left arm and 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.

The report later said Richardson appeared to throw an item at Coleman, which the TSA indicated may have been headphones.

In the police report, the officer said: "I was told Coleman did not want to participate any further in the investigation and declined to be a victim."

Richardson won the 100 at the 2023 world championships in Budapest and finished with the silver at the Paris Games last summer. She also helped the 4x100 relay to an Olympic gold.

She had a positive marijuana test at the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials and didn't compete at the Tokyo Olympics.