A Virginia high schooler accused of criminal assault after bashing an opposing track runner in the head at a meet earlier this month is being unfairly punished, according to her community NAACP and other supporters.
Alaila Everett, a senior at I.C. Norcom High School, was charged with assault and battery after a viral video showed her hitting an opposing runner twice in the head with a baton during the 4×200-meter relay state championships at Liberty University.
The other runner, Kaelan Tucker, told several outlets that she suffered a concussion and a possible skull fracture.
Both runners are Black, but Everett said she has received racist comments and death threats since footage of the race went viral on social media.
Dozens of people, including representatives from the NAACP, gathered at I.C. Norcom on Thursday to support her.
“She is not an attacker. Alaila is an honor student at Norcom High School,” James Boyd, the president of the Portsmouth NAACP, told Richmond’s WTVR news station. “We are not going to sit back and allow the criminal justice system to define her.”
Everett has maintained that the incident was an accident. She told reporters that the baton got caught in Tucker’s hair as the pair rounded the curve in a close race.
“I would never do anything like that,” Everett said at the rally, according to WTVR. “I would never harm anybody. I’m not a fighter.”
Everett’s team was disqualified from the competition. The Virginia High School League has opened an investigation.
