Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson tried to talk fast after being caught driving fast, but she got nowhere fast except jail.
Richardson was stopped after an Orange County, Florida, sheriff’s deputy said she was driving at 104 mph on a Florida highway, according to WFTV.
The interplay between the Paris 2024 gold medalist and the deputy who stopped her was recorded by the deputy’s bodycam.
“I’d wipe that smile off your face,” the deputy advised, adding that Richardson was “stopped for dangerous, excessive speeding,” according to TMZ.
“You’re driving at 104 miles per hour in a 65 miles per hour zone, with subpar equipment, flashing people to get out of your way, following too close, using every lane to pass everybody, cutting me off, passing a car on the inside shoulder with their hazard lights on, you’re going to jail for dangerous excessive speeding,” he said.
Bodycam footage of Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson’s arrest on Thursday has been released. pic.twitter.com/cvKr1Vua7J
— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) January 31, 2026
That litany of offenses triggered a bout of begging from Richardson.
“I really want to work with you, sir. I am a law-abiding citizen,” she said. “Sir, please don’t allow me to go to jail. Please. Please, sir.”
The words kept flowing.
“Please, sir. I’m begging you. Don’t take me to jail. I will do everything. My tire, I cannot go to jail. I promise you, I don’t want to go to jail. I’m right here. I have a team here. I have a coach, everything. I was not intentionally doing anything.”
But Sgt. Gerald McDaniels did not budge — not even when she claimed an under-inflated rear tire was to blame, according to the New York Post.
Then came the claim that the car sped up because her phone slipped, changing the car’s setting and triggering its sprint.
At one point, Richardson said she did not even know her car was speeding, only to be told “that’s why they give you a speedometer,” according to Fox News.
Olympic sprinter Christian Coleman, Richardson’s boyfriend, showed up and was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting an officer without violence, the New York Post reported.
Fellow Team USA sprinter Twanisha Terry was ticketed for stopping on a limited-access highway when she arrived demanding to know what was taking place.
As noted by WFTV, Florida’s so-called “super speeder” law, which took effect in July 2025, allows police to jail anyone who drives over 100 mph or 50 mph over the limit.
The New York Post noted that Richardson and Coleman were each jailed and then freed on a $500 bond apiece.
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