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Inset: Viral video of alleged assault at high school track meet in Virginia (Milesplit). Background: Alaila Everett who is accused of hitting a runner with a baton (WAVY/YouTube).
Prosecutors in Virginia have charged a high school track athlete who allegedly struck a competitor in the head with a baton during a relay race caught on a now-viral video.
The Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office confirmed to Law&Crime that it charged Alaila Everett with assault and battery for hitting a fellow runner as she passed her on the track. Everett has insisted that the incident was a mistake.
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“She was touching me to the point where I was pumping my arm, and the baton was hitting her arm,” Everett told Scripps News. “I lose my balance — my whole body turns, and then I pump my arms, so she got hit.”
The video showed the other runner, Kaelen Tucker, falling to the ground after she was hit. She suffered a concussion and possibly a skull fracture, authorities have said. It happened last week at the Virginia state championship meet on the campus of Liberty University.
While many have accused Everett of swinging her baton in frustration over being overtaken in the race, the local NAACP chapter has come to her defense. They released the following statement:
Alaila is NOT AN ATTACKER and media headlines that allude towards that in any way is shameful. We understand the sensitivity of the circumstances for both athletes and their families involved but this narrative must not go unaddressed. Alaila is an honor student and a star athlete at the historic I.C. Norcom High School. From all accounts, she is an exceptional young leader and scholar whose athletic talent has been well-documented and recognized across our state. She has carried herself with integrity both on and off the field and any narrative that adjudicates her guilty of any criminal activity is a violation of her due process rights.
It’s unclear whether Everett has obtained a lawyer or if she has been taken into custody as of Wednesday afternoon.