A high school track athlete in Virginia faces charges after allegedly attacking a competitor with a relay baton last week during a race.
Alaila Everett has been charged with one count of assault and battery after a now-viral video showed her hitting Kaelen Tucker with the baton, causing her to fall to the ground, according to a report from WTKR-TV.
Everett has claimed that the incident, which happened at the 4×200 meter event at the Virginia state championship, was accidental.
“She was touching me to the point where I was pumping my arm, and the baton was hitting her arm,” Everett said, per WTKR-TV.
“I lose my balance—my whole body turns, and then I pump my arms, so she got hit.”
JUST IN: Track runner Alaila Everett charged with assault & battery after hitting a runner in the head with a baton at a track meet.
Everett claims her hand simply slipped which resulted in the other runner Kaelen Tucker, getting a concussion & possibly fractured skull.
The… pic.twitter.com/SwY8T6tomx
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 13, 2025
But Nicola Hickling, who founded lip reading transcription service LipReader, said in comments to the U.K. Daily Mail that Everett shouted “get off” and “hey oh” after cracking Tucker with the baton.
Hickling said she looked at several videos of the incident before making that conclusion.
Everett has meanwhile claimed that she has faced racism following the viral incident.
Should Everett face harsher charges?
“Nobody is going to believe me because I can admit from the video it does look purposeful. But I know my intentions and I would never hit anybody on purpose,” she insisted to WSET-TV.
“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 and, when I pumped my arms again, she got hit,” Everett said.
“They are assuming my character, calling me ghetto and racial slurs, death threats,” she continued. “All of this off of a nine-second video.”
Everett then urged the public to consider her own mental health.
I.C. Norcom High School, which Everett attends, had their relay team disqualified from the meet for “contact interference.”
Tucker meanwhile told WSET-TV that she is “still trying to take it all in” and “can’t believe it happened.”
Wild moment at the VHSL Class 3 State Indoor Meet. A runner in the girls’ 4×200 relay clubs an opponent in the head with a baton mid-race. Both teams were disqualified. @milesplit #TrackandField pic.twitter.com/KDwEjUZm5X
— Alonso (@atxgoodguy) March 6, 2025
The apparent victim is receiving treatment for a concussion and possible skull fracture.
“Why did you do it, and why haven’t you apologized?” she wondered.
Tamarrow Tucker, her mother, noted that neither Everett nor the Norcom High School coaches were present to ask for forgiveness or explain their actions while her daughter was receiving medical attention at the meet.
“No apologies. No coaches. No athlete. No anything,” the mother said.
“Even if it was an accident, which I don’t believe it was … nothing.”
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