High school runner Alaila Everett has new footage and an explanation after accusations that she struck her opponent in the head on purpose. During a championship race in early March, Everett hit Kaelen Tucker in the head with her baton, causing the other athlete to stumble off the track and fall. Doctors later diagnosed her with a concussion.
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The question at hand is whether or not Everett struck Tucker intentionally or simply lost control of her arms. Everett told local news that she would never do that on purpose, sharing a new angle of footage in an attempt to prove her innocence.
What happened with Alaila Everett and Kaelen Tucker at the track meet?
On March 3, 2025, at the Virginia State High School League Championships, Tucker began to pass Everett on the outside during the second leg of the 4×200-meter relay. As Tucker pulled ahead, footage shows Everett’s arms start to flail, and she hit her opponent on the head with the metal baton.
“I just felt a bang on my head, and then I fell off the track immediately,” said Tucker to ABC News.
The junior grabbed her head as she ran off the track and stumbled to the ground, dropping her baton. Medical staff treated Tucker for the head injury.
Later, either law enforcement or the injured party’s family filed assault and battery charges against Everett, according to the City of Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney.
Alaila Everett claims it was an accident
In an interview with the local ABC affiliate, Everett maintains that the strike was unintentional. She claims that when Tucker passed her close on the track, the junior’s arm struck her baton first, causing Everett’s arm to become “stuck” in an odd position.
“I would never do that on purpose,” she said. “That’s not in my character.”
“After a couple times of hitting her [with her body], my baton got stuck behind her back like this,” Everett explained, “and it rolled up her back. I lost my balance and when I pumped my arms again, she got hit.”
The runner offered footage that shows a different angle during the moment of the strike, hoping to prove her innocence. However, this appears to have done little to convince those who deemed her guilty from the start.
Everett’s family and a Virginia High School League official are defending her, saying that Tucker’s close pass was to blame for the incident.
“When the young lady cut her off, my daughter couldn’t pump her arms… no control where your arms go,” said father Genoah Everett.
Tucker and her family remain unmoved, maintaining that Everett meant hit her opponent. The junior runner’s mother says that Everett “kept running and she [did] not stop and check on my daughter … it couldn’t have been an accident.”
Other witnesses, such as track official Vincent Pugh, say that Everett did stop and check on Tucker before finishing the race. The viral clip that spread on social media shows Everett appearing to look and reach toward her opponent as she slows before the camera pans away. There are also conflicting reports on whether she apologized later.
The Everett family says they’ve received death threats over the incident, and social media users continue to rage at the accused athlete in spite of the new footage and explanations. Many claimed that the new angle only confirmed their initial judgments.
@Bubblebathgirl/X
“Everett says new video shows it was an accident,” says @Bubblebathgirl. “But if you actually watch it you see she’s lying.
“New video angle makes it pretty clear that high school runner Alaila Everett deliberately attacked Kaelen Tucker with a relay baton during a race,” claims @TheKevinDalton.
Some have gone as far as demanding that Everett lose any scholarships and suffer expulsion and jail time, as well as consequences for her school and parents.
“#AlailaEverett should be kicked out of school, never allowed near a sports event again, but mostly prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” says @David9Points. “It was a blatant attack on a better person.”
Although few appear to be on her side, at least a couple social media users have said that the death threats as well as racist attacks against the runner are unjustifiable.
@TheOfficerTatum/X
“I don’t think this was an accident but I think it’s wrong for her to be receiving death threats,” writes @TheOfficerTatum, “she’s young, this isn’t something that should ruin or derail somebody’s life.”
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