Sha’Carri Richardson was arrested for domestic violence last month following an alleged incident with her boyfriend Christian Coleman, and Coleman has since defended the Olympic gold medalist.
Richardson was arrested at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on July 27 after police say she got into a verbal altercation with a male companion as the two exited through airport security. Richardson allegedly pushed the man, who was later identified as Coleman, into a nearby column and continued to bump into him as he tried to walk away. Richardson also allegedly threw a pair of headphones at Coleman.
Richardson, 25, was charged with fourth-degree domestic violence assault. Coleman, who is also a U.S. Olympic sprinter, spoke with reporters about the incident after he ran in the U.S. championships in Oregon on Sunday.
Coleman said it was a “sucky situation” and that he does not feel Richardson deserved to be arrested.
“Does she have things that she needs to work on for herself? Of course, but so do I, so do you and so do you, everybody. … I hate the narrative, too. It’s just so negative,” Coleman said. “Like I said, in the state of Seattle, even talking to the cop or whatever, he was just like,’ There’s nothing I can do.’ I understood. It’s just a sucky situation. She’s a human being and a great person.”
🗣️ “She’s a human being, and a great person… 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.”
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) August 4, 2025
Christian Coleman shares about Sha’Carri Richardson’s… pic.twitter.com/kxaZHVhh8C
Coleman said both he and Richardson have “real dominant personalities” and that he views Coleman as the best female athlete in the world.
Though Richardson was held for just under 19 hours at South Correctional Entity in Des Moines, Wash., Coleman declined to press charges, which resulted in Richardson being cleared.
Richardson is one of the faces of women’s sprinting. She won the silver medal in the individual 100m at the Paris Olympics last summer and the gold medal as the anchor in the 4×100 relay (providing an iconic viral moment along the way).
Coleman reportedly told officers that Richardson was his girlfriend of two years. However, the two only went public with their relationship earlier this year.
