Alternative footage shows new angle of viral moment athlete hit opponent over head with baton
New footage has shown a new angle of the moment a US athlete appeared to her hit opponent over the head with a baton in a relay race.
A clip from a 4x200m relay race which took place last week (3 March) at the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 3 State Indoor Championships has gone viral after athlete
Alaila Everett appeared to 'hit' her opponent Kaelen Tucker over the head with the piece of sports equipment after Tucker attempted to cut in-front.
16-year-old Tucker later spoke out about the incident, revealing she had suffered a concussion from the altercation.
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"As we were coming up in the middle of the curve, we were bumping arms a lot," Tucker told WSET ABC 13 on Friday (7 March). "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."
Everett has also given her side of events, revealing that she had lost her balance during the race and had not intended to strike Tucker with the baton.
"After a couple times of hitting her with my baton, I got stuck behind her back and [the baton] rolled up her back," she told WAVYTV10 in an interview which was released today (10 March).
"I lost my balance, and when I pumped my arms again, she got hit. I know my intentions and I would never hit somebody on purpose."
WAVYTV10 also shared footage of the clash from a different angle to the clip which went viral.
The new angle shows the incident from behind, which Everett said backs up her argument that the strike was accidental and the result of the pair colliding. Watch the clip below:
An emotional Everett has spoken about the impact the story has had on her mental health, telling the outlet: "Everybody has feelings, so you're physically hurt but you are not thinking about my mental health, right? They are going off of one angle.
"They're assaulting my character, calling me ghetto, racist slurs, death threats, all of this, just because of a nine second video."
The high school student went on to state that she attempted to reach out to Tucker via social media, but discovered that she'd been blocked. However, Tucker's family claimed that neither Everett or her team coach had attempted to reach out to her afterwards.
"To see that they [Everett] kept on running and she [did] not stop and check on my daughter... I was like it couldn't have been an accident," Tucker's mother Tamarro told Good Morning America.
However, they did acknowledge that they'd been approached by the school and Everett's father.
Brenna Cooper