The female runner who attacked her opponent in the head with a baton during the Virginia indoor track championships has surprisingly claimed it was all an accident after the school race went viral.
The track championships saw spectators present a bizarre moment when Alaila Everett was seen hitting Kaelen Tucker in the head with a baton during the 4x200m relay event of the VSHL Class 3 State Indoor Championships.
In the now-viral video, Tucker is seen running the second leg of the relay for Lynchburg’s Brookville High School when she passed her opponent of I.C. Norcom High School on the outside.
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Everett has revealed how it unfolded during the race in a matter of seconds, claiming she has been left broken after receiving loads of death threats and racial slurs.
She shared her version of events on the viral incident to Wavy.com, saying: ‘I know my intentions and I would never hit someone 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’, she added.
Everett insisted there is more to what actually transpired than what first appears in the short video. ‘They are assuming my character, calling me ghetto and racial slurs, death threats,’ she said. ‘All of this off of a nine-second video.’
‘Everybody has feelings, so you’re physically hurt, but you’re not thinking of my mental health’, she added.
All around the Liberty Indoor Track Complex were gasps from spectators as Tucker slowed down, stumbled, and then fell flat to the ground on the interior of the course.
Nonetheless, Everett’s mother who was also overcome with emotion, stood behind her daughter, insisting her child would never do a fellow athlete wrong on purpose.
‘I didn’t have to see a first video, second video or tenth video. I know 100 percent that she would never do that to nobody,’ Zeketa Cost said.
After the incident, I.C. Norcom High School was disqualified for ‘contact interference’ or physically interfering with another runner’s actions.
Tucker said she was in shock after the race and didn’t know what may have caused such a brazen reaction from Everett.
‘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.’ ‘Why did you do it, and why haven’t you apologized?’
A WSET report indicates that Tucker was treated for a concussion and a possible skull fracture after the race. Tamarro, Tucker’s mother, told the outlet that no one from Norcom even cared about checking on her daughter or apologizing.
‘No apologies. No coaches. No athlete. No anything. Even if it was an accident, which I don’t believe it was… nothing,’ she said.
The female runner alleges she has tried to reach out to Tucker after the attack in the school race but finds herself blocked on social media as the Virginia High School League confirmed they are ‘reviewing the situation’.
According to WAVY.com, Everett’s family was served court papers as the Tuckers are seeking a protective order.
