Shocking news came last Wednesday morning when Hillsborough County (FL) Sheriff's Office tweeted out their warrant for the arrest of Lions cornerback Cameron Sutton in relation to an alleged domestic violence incident on March 7 (the warrant was issued on March 7, just made so widely public on social media March 20).
Sutton was released the next day, under a "no tolerance policy" for such things that Lions president Rod Wood confirmed to reporters at the league meetings on Monday.
"Yeah, it still is in place," Wood said at the NFL's annual meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando. "Obviously, there’s a legal matter here that will determine exactly what happened, but I would say that was a factor as well as the fact that he was, I guess not on the run from the warrant. So all that factored in and it was a difficult decision but it was the right decision and we’re just moving on."
Wood revealed the team had contacted Sutton when they found out about the warrant, advising him to seek counsel and turn himself in. Meetings over the rest of day prompted the easy move to release him the following day.
Rod Wood said Cameron Sutton was in the building at Allen Park when warrant came out
In a conversation with Dan Miller of Fox 2 in Detroit down in Orlando at the league meetings, Wood further revealed Sutton was in the building when the news of the warrant came.
@Lions president Rod Wood spoke to @DanMillerFox2 regarding the team's decision to release Cam Sutton and says Sutton was in Allen Park when the team learned of the warrant for his arrest. pic.twitter.com/b1X4ywcJ4t
— FOX 2 Sports (@FOX2Sports) March 25, 2024
"We learned about the warrant the same time everybody else did, on social media. And...we were able to speak to Cam because he was actually in our building, and we found him, he was down with our strength staff. He kinda showed up unexpectedly to work out...We were able to talk to him in person, not me, but other members of the staff. And ...he left the building. We released him the next day, and no one's spoken to him since."
Responding to Miller's inquiry about whether Sutton would follow the advice to seek counsel and turn himself in, Wood reiterated that he didn't talk to Sutton personally and didn't know what Sutton told anyone else. Wood added that what Sutton does is "up to him at this point." As of this writing, he has not turned himself in.
Justin Rogers of the Detroit News has reported police in Florida never contacted the Lions or local Detroit police about Sutton. Per Rogers, Sutton was in town for a team event the day before the alleged incident.
The alleged incident took place nearly two weeks before the warrant came out publicly, as authorities in Florida had apparently exhausted all available leads to reach Sutton and couldn't. He showed up at Allen Park unexpectedly to work out at some point recently, according to Wood, and also said nothing to the Lions about his situation over the course of multiple days he spent in the facility.
There was cause to release Sutton when the warrant came out, leaving aside the potential dot-connecting that could now be done based on the timeline Wood offered and Sutton not expected to be at the facility when he was.