During the Virginia State High School League Championships on March 3, Alaila Everett, a senior at I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, would make a decision that would change the course of her life.
Everett was running the second leg of the 4×200-meter relay when her baton struck Kaelen Tucker, a junior from Brookville High School, in the head.
It was a moment that made the crowd gasp as Tucker reached for her head before falling off the track. Medical personnel attended to her shortly after the incident. She would later be diagnosed with a concussion.
Bethany Harrison, the commonwealth’s attorney for the city of Lynchburg, confirmed that a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery was issued against Everett in the matter.
