Detroit Lions Exec Comments On Last Interaction With CB Cam Sutton Before Police Manhunt

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is currently searching for former Detroit Lions cornerback Cameron Sutton, 29.

Sutton was part of the Detroit Lions up until last week when the Hillsborough County authorities announced the player's arrest warrant.

Detroit Lions Team President Rod Wood. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

Cam Sutton.

The former third-round pick faces a charge of domestic battery by strangulation, stemming from an emergency call made on March 7, with Sutton as the prime suspect. Sutton has been on the run ever since.

A day after the warrant went public, the Lions front office cut its losses and released the player (Mar. 21).

Commenting on the situation was Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood.

During the NFL owners' gathering on Monday, Wood noted that Sutton was inside the Lions facilities, coming in for an unexpected workout, when the sheriff's office went public with Sutton's arrest warrant, seeking help from the public with locating the player.

Wood also mentioned that Lions personnel encouraged Sutton to turn himself in. 

"Suggested he get counsel and do the right thing to turn himself in," Wood shared, via ESPN. "After that, we met the rest of the day and the following morning to decide to release him."

He added, "We're just moving on. I want to make sure everybody knows, we didn't release him because of anything related to the cap or money that we may owe him. It was the right thing to do for the organization.

"We did release him with a post-June 1 designation, which will allow us to deal with whatever the cap implications are over two seasons versus one. And we're going to let the process between us, him and the union play out to determine exactly what happens. But money was not on my mind when we made our decisions."

Authorities were alerted on May 7 of a domestic violence case involving strangulation connected to Sutton. That morning — at roughly 4:30 a.m. at their residence in Lutz, Florida — Sutton allegedly beat an unnamed woman and has been on the run since the incident. The search for Sutton stretched to two weeks before authorities asked the public for help.

Sutton spent six seasons with the Steelers before joining Dan Campbell's regime in Detroit. He played 17 games for the Lions last season, tallying 65 total tackles, one interception, and a forced fumble.

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