LYNCHBURG, Va. — A high school athlete is facing charges after a track incident that left another runner with a concussion and a possibly fractured skull, according to Bethany Harrison, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Lynchburg.
Alaila Everett is being charged with one count of assault and battery following the incident that occurred during a state championship meet last week. A video of the event, which has gone viral, shows Kaelen Tucker being hit in the head by Everett’s relay baton. Everett has maintained it was an accident.
Alaila Everett tells Scripps News Norfolk the video depicts an accident not an intentional assault on another runner. (Scripps News Norfolk)
“She was touching me to the point where I was pumping my arm, and the baton was hitting her arm,” Everett said. “I lose my balance—my whole body turns, and then I pump my arms, so she got hit.”
The viral attention garnered by the track footage has led to harassment and death threats directed at Everett.
Before the charges were announced, the Portsmouth NAACP issued a statement in defense of Everett Wednesday morning, saying in part,
“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 welldocumented 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.”
Virginia Davis, a USA Track and Field official with 16 years of experience as an umpire, described the incident as tragic — but emphasized that the individuals involved are high school students.
“I think it’s tragic. They bumped into each other. Whether you think what they did was correct or not, they’re still high school students,” she said.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Norfolk, an E.W. Scripps Company.
