A support rally was held for athlete Alaila Everett a day after she was charged with assault for hitting an opponent over the head with a baton — and it’s clear the teenager was overcome with emotion as she burst into tears.
The 17-year-old sobbed as she addressed those who had shown up for her, standing firm in her belief that she would never intentionally strike someone, despite the excessive backlash she has received.
Highlights
- Alaila Everett was charged with assault for hitting her opponent with a baton.
- Everett claims the baton incident was an accident.
- A support rally was held for Everett, who denies purposefully striking her opponent.
“Nobody else wanted to hear my story except for the people that know me, and people that know I would never do anything like that,” she said at the rally, which was held outside her high school.
“I would never harm anybody. I’m not a fighter,” Everett claimed in the video footage first obtained by CBS affiliate WTKR News. “I’m not even confrontational. I wouldn’t even do that on purpose. And I thank y’all for believing in me. And I love y’all.”
Alaila Everett was charged with assault after striking her opponent in the head with a baton
Image credits: WSET ABC 13
Her speech was peppered with various cheers and shouts of support for the teenage athlete.
Things first started on Friday, March 7, when Everett—from I.C. Norcom High School—and Kaelen Tucker from Lynchburg’s Brookville High School participated in a 4x200m relay event at Liberty University, Virginia.
There, clips captured Tucker running in the second leg of the relay before passing Everett. In a shocking turn of events, the latter pulled her right arm back and struck her opponent in the head with a baton.
Tucker fell to the ground, clutching her head. She had to be treated for a concussion and possible skull fracture, while Everett continued on.
Image credits: Raindropsmedia1
Immediately following the incident, Everett claimed the clip painted her as someone she wasn’t and she defended herself, by providing a brief timeline of what actually happened.
“Nobody is going to believe me because I can admit from the video it does look purposeful,” the athlete said. “But I know my intentions, and I would never hit anybody on purpose.
“After a couple of times of hitting her, my baton got stuck behind her back like this,” she said, gesturing upwards, “and it rolled up her back. I lost balance, and when I pumped my arms again, she got hit.”
Everett claims the whole ordeal was an accident
Image credits: Raindropsmedia1
She continued, “[The Internet is] assuming my character, calling me ghetto and racial slurs, death threats. All of this off of a nine-second video.”
Everett claimed she had attempted to reach out to Tucker via social media but discovered she had been blocked.
But while Everett—and her supporters from her high school—say the attack was entirely an accident, Tucker and her family disagree.
The backlash Everett received from the Internet was almost immediate
Image credits: WSET ABC 13
Image credits: WSET ABC 13
In an interview with WSET ABC 13, Tucker shared, “So, on the back curve, I kind of got cut off, and I tried to pass her the first time, so I let her go ahead. I knew when I got fully on the curve that I was going to have to push through past her."
“So, as we were coming up in the middle of the curve, we were bumping arms a lot. So, I got a little more on the outside of the curve to go around her. When I finally pushed through to get in front of her, that’s when she hit me in the head with the baton.”
Still in shock, she addressed her opponent: “Why did you do it? And why haven’t you apologized yet?”
Similarly, her mother was upset at the lack of support from I.C. Norcom High School.
She told WSET News, “No apologies. No coaches. No athlete. No anything. Even if it was an accident, which I don’t believe it was… nothing.”
It seemed as if most netizens were on Tucker's side
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