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.
