A track star who was caught on camera hitting her opponent on the head with a baton is facing an assault charge after the clip went viral.
The Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Office told DailyMail.com that they have issued a petition for one count of assault and battery against Alaila Everett.
Everett was seen at the indoor track championships in Virginia striking Kaelen Tucker during the 4x200m relay event.
Tucker was running the second leg of the relay for Lynchburg’s Brookville High School when she passed Everett of I.C. Norcom High School on the outside.
In the clip, Everett can be seen pulling her right arm back and smacking the baton she was carrying across her opponent’s head.
Prior to the charges being announced, the local branch of the NAACP issued a statement in defense of Everett.
Everett was seen at the indoor indoor track championships in Virginia striking Kaelen Tucker during the 4x200m relay event
The Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Office have issued a petition for one count of assault and battery against Alaila Everett, seen here
In it, they said she was ‘not an attacker’ and described her as being an ‘exceptional young leader and scholar’.
It added: ‘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.’
Everett had come forward earlier this week and claimed she has been on the receiving end of death threats and racial attacks over the incident.
In an interview with Wavy.com on Monday, she broke down in tears as she gave her version of events on the viral incident.
She said: ‘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.
‘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 insisted there is more to her – and the incident – than first appears in the short clip.
‘They are assuming my character, calling me ghetto and racial slurs, death threats,’ she said. ‘All of this off of a nine-second video’.
Kaelen, pictured at a meet in January, says the runner has not apologized for her actions
Tucker went to pass an opposing runner when she was struck on the head, causing her to fall
She added: ‘Everybody has feelings, so you’re physically hurt, but you’re not thinking of my mental (health).
Judges at the meet were able to see the attack and disqualified Norcom’s team for ‘contact interference’ – or physically interfering with another runner’s actions.
Tucker told local ABC affiliate WSET: ‘I still can’t believe it, I’m in shock. I’m still trying to take it all in, I can’t believe it happened.’
She added: ‘Why did you do it, and why haven’t you apologized?’
According to WSET, Tucker was treated for a concussion and a possible skull fracture.
Tucker’s mother, Tamarro, told WSET that no one from Norcom came over to check on her daughter – or apologize.
‘No apologies. No coaches. No athlete. No anything. Even if it was an accident, which I don’t believe it was… nothing,’ she said.
