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New York Times
13-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
High School Runner Who Struck Rival With Baton Faces Charge
A high school runner is facing criminal charges after striking and injuring another runner with a baton earlier this month. During a 4x200-meter indoor relay race at the Virginia state championships in Lynchburg on March 4, Kaelen Tucker passed Alaila Everett, who then swung her arm, striking Ms. Tucker in the head with the baton. Ms. Tucker brought a hand to her head, fell to the track and did not finish the race. Her family said that she had sustained a concussion. Ms. Everett now faces a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery, said Bethany Harrison, the commonwealth attorney for the city of Lynchburg. Ms. Everett's team, I.C. Norcom of Portsmouth, Va., was disqualified from the race. What exactly happened, and why, is a matter of dispute. Indoor track, and indoor relays in particular, can be rough. Limited space and fast athletes lead to jostling, collisions and falls. The 4x200 is the shortest and fastest relay event that is commonly run indoors, and the runners do not stay in their lanes, meaning they are in close quarters. 'As we got around the curve she kept bumping me in my arm and then finally when we got off the curve I , like, slowly started passing her, and then that's when she just hit me with a baton, and I fell off the track,' Ms. Tucker told the local TV station WSLS. 'To see that they kept running, and she did not stop and check on my daughter, it couldn't have been an accident,' her mother, Tamarrow Tucker, mother said on 'Good Morning America.' But Ms. Everett and her family disputed that she intentionally struck her fellow runner. 'She was so close to me that my baton kept hitting her,' Ms. Everett told the local station WAVY. 'I lost my balance and then I pumped my arms again and she got hit. She was cutting in when it happened — she should have waited a little bit longer. But she cut in too quick. She was so close to me she got hit.' 'I would never hit somebody on purpose,' Ms. Everett said through tears. Her father said he saw the incident as part of the rough and tumble of a relay. 'When the young lady cut her off, my daughter couldn't pump her arm; no control where your arms go,' Mr. Everett told WVEC. 'She can only apologize on the news, and she's done it already several times.' Under track rules, runners can't cut in front of the runners they pass until they are a stride length, or about six feet, in front. Vincent Pugh, a former athletic director for Portsmouth Public Schools, told WAVY that Ms. Tucker had not had that margin. He also said that he believed the video did not show that the baton strike had been intentional. The families of Ms. Tucker and Ms. Everett did not respond to requests for further comment. The moment in the race became a prominent episode on social media, drawing many comments, including from those who are not normally track fans. Some of those opinions were far from nuanced. The local N.A.A.C.P. chapter said that the Everett family had been the target of racial slurs and death threats, and said of Ms. Everett that '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.'
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Yahoo
'Baton Attacker' Breaks Her Silence After Injuring Opponent
Over the weekend, a viral video showed what appeared to be a violent attack during a track meet as one girl was struck in the head by a baton during a relay race. However, the apparent attacker has broken her silence and is claiming that it was an accident. The incident occurred during the 4×200 meter relay at the VHSL Class 3 State Indoor Championships at Liberty University on Friday. During the second leg of the race, Brookville High School junior Kaelen Tucker attempted to cut into lane one during a battle for second place. As Tucker pulled out in front, she was struck in the head from behind by her opponent's baton. 'When we get onto the other side of the track we have to cross to lane one, you have to merge in, and as I was coming up on her she kind of made me get cut off a little bit so I backed away,' Tucker explained to WSLS. 'When we got to the curve she kept bumping me in my arm and when we got off the curve I finally passed her and that was when she hit me with the baton.' The video of the incident seems to show her opponent, Alaila Everett, winding up and striking Tucker in the head with her baton, and the strike was so strong that a doctor later diagnosed her with a concussion and a possible skull fracture. However, Everett is insisting that it was all an accident. "I know my intentions and I would never hit someone on purpose," Everett told Everett claimed that she struck Tucker accidentally after she lost her balance. "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 said. Everett says that she has since received death threats and been called racial slurs as a result of the incident. "They are assuming my character, calling me ghetto and racial slurs, death threats," she said. "All of this off of a nine-second video." After the race, Tucker expressed frustration that she did not receive an apology from Everett or anyone else. Everett claims she has tried to reach out to Tucker aftewards but has been blocked on social media.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
High school track star seriously injured, hit by rival runner's relay baton
A Virginia high school sprinter was struck by an opponent with a baton during a state championship race. The incident took place on March 7 when Kaelen Tucker, from Brookville High School in Lynchburg, Va., was running in a relay race at a state indoor championship held at Liberty University, WSLS reported. The high school junior had passed Alaila Everett, a track star and senior at I.C. Norcom High School, when she said she felt a sharp pain in her head that forced her to stop running. Tucker was later assessed by a doctor and was told she had a concussion and possible skull fracture, according to the outlet. In video that was widely shared on social media, Tucker, who was running the second leg, can be seen grabbing a baton from her teammate and taking off. As Tucker overtakes Everett, Everett appears to raise her own baton and strike out in Tucker's direction. Tucker is seen grabbing her head and falling towards the infield as Everett continued running. 'When you go to the other side of the track, you have to cross into lane one, you have to merge in,' Tucker detailed to the outlet. 'As I was coming up on her, she kind of made me get cut off a little bit, so I backed away,' the athlete continued. The girl's parents, Tamarro and Keith, told WSLS that the opposing school's athletic director and Everett's father reached out to them, but they want an apology from the team's coach and Everett. 'They were beside us at the event. They were watching the video at the event, but no one apologized or came to check on her,' the parents said. 'Even if it was a fluke or freak accident, you still would check on her.' Everett told outlet WAVY that it indeed was an accident and the video is being misinterpreted. She claimed the camera angle made the strike look intentional but she insisted her baton 'got stuck behind her back, then it rolled up her back, I lost my balance and when I pumped my arms against, she got hit,' Everett explained, tearfully. 'I know my intentions and I would never hit someone on purpose.' Everett said she has been trying to get in touch with Tucker but was shut down and blocked on social media. She added that she has been on the receiving end of racial slurs and death threats over the video, noting that while Tucker is 'physically hurt' she wants people to sympathize with her feelings, saying through tears that people are 'not thinking of my mental.' The incident is being investigated by the Virginia High School League. Transgender track star sparks outrage after winning girls' triple jump by more than 2 metres U.S. Olympic track star accused of battering wife, nearly choking her to death MyKayla Skinner begs Simone Biles to call off fans after death threats, online assault Check out our sports section for the latest news and analysis.
