The video of a Virginia track athlete hitting a competitor in the head with a baton as she passed her on a turn went viral quickly, and now that athlete has been charged criminally.
Norcom High School senior Alaila Everett has been charged with assault and battery following the shocking incident at the Virginia State High School League Indoor State Championships in Lynchburg on March 4th.
The victim, Brookville High School junior Kaelen Tucker, suffered a concussion and a possible fractured skull in the incident during the second leg of the Girls 4x200m relay race, after which she stumbled off the track and fell to the ground.
Everett has pleaded her innocence, claiming that what everyone saw wasn’t what happened.
“She was touching me to the point where I was pumping my arm, and the baton was hitting her arm,” Everett said in an interview with WTKR News 3 in Norfolk. “I lose my balance — my whole body turns, and then I pump my arms, so she got hit.”
But Tucker, like everyone else who has seen the video, disagrees with Everett’s claim.
“As we got around the curve, she kept bumping me in my arm,” said Tucker. “When we finally got off the curve, I slowly started passing her, and she hit me with a baton.”
As a result, Everett’s team was DQed from the event and she revealed that she’s been harassed and even received death threats.
It’s an ugly incident all around. We will keep you posted.
