Virginia sprinter who hit high school track opponent with baton charged with assault

The Virginia high schooler who hit an opponent in the head with a baton during a track meet has been criminally charged.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office in Lynchburg confirmed to several outlets Wednesday that Alaila Everett, a senior at I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, was charged with one count of assault and battery.

The victim of the assault, Kaelan Tucker, said she suffered a concussion and a possible skull fracture.

The incident occurred during the Class 3 State Indoor Championships at Liberty University last week.

Everett told the WAVY-10 news station that it was an accident in a close race. Video of the March 4 incident went viral, with legions of viewers condemning her actions.

“It’s like they are going off one angle,” Everett said Sunday.

She had the inside track during the second leg of the 4x200 relay race. Tucker started to pass her on the right when Everett appeared to cock her arm back and swing at Tucker’s head with the baton.

Tucker, a junior from Brookville High School in Lynchburg, collapsed on the side of the track. The pair had been brushing by each other in adjacent lanes as they rounded the curve.

“After a couple times of hitting her, my baton got stuck behind her back like this, and it rolled up her back. I lost my balance when I pumped my arms again,” Everett said. “She got hit.”

It didn’t feel accidental to Tucker.

“As we were coming up in the middle of the curve, we were bumping arms a lot. So, I got a little more on the outside of the curve to go around her,” she told an ABC affiliate on Friday. “When I finally pushed through to get in front of her, that’s when she hit me in the head with the baton.”

In the week since the race, Everett said she has received death threats and been called racial slurs from people who saw the incident on social media.

“They are assuming my character, calling me ghetto and racial slurs, death threats … all of this off of a nine-second video,” Everett said.

She said she couldn’t apologize, as Tucker blocked her on social media. The Tucker family is seeking a protective order and demanding an apology.

Everett’s team was later disqualified. The Virginia High School League said it’s reviewing the incident in an investigation.