A viral moment from a high school track competition in Virginia has led to a criminal charge.
A misdemeanor charge of assault and battery was issued against a senior runner for I.C. Norcom High School after she hit one of her competitors with her baton during a 4x200 relay race.
Footage of the race, which has gone viral on social media, shows the I.C. Norcom runner appearing to raise her baton and swing at Kaelen Tucker from Brookville High School as Tucker passed her, as the Deseret News previously reported.
In an interview with “Good Morning America,” the I.C. Norcom runner said it was an accident and that she lost her balance because Tucker was running too close to her.
“I would never do that on purpose,” she said, according to ABC News. “That’s not in my character.”
For her part, Tucker has said that it was her opponent’s fault that they were running so close to each other.
“As I was coming up on her, she kind of like made me get cut off a little bit, so I backed away,” Tucker said about the race during an interview with local ABC affiliate WSET. “Then, as we got around the curve, she kept bumping me in my arm. Then finally we got off the curve, I like slowly started passing her and then that’s when she just hit me with the baton.”
After being hit, Tucker fell to the side of the track. She was later diagnosed with a concussion.
The I.C. Norcom team was disqualified from the race, which was part of the Virginia Class 3 State Indoor Championships.
“Following the incident, the athletic director at I.C. Norcom High School and (the runner’s) father apologized to the Tucker family in a phone call, according to Tucker’s parents,” ABC News reported.
In a statement to ABC News, the NAACP in Portsmouth, Virginia, defended the I.C. Norcom runner and called for the misdemeanor charge to be dropped.
“We are committed collectively to ensuring that the criminal justice system, which we feel is not warranted in this situation, is executed fairly and based on due process,” the organization said, noting that it’s also investigating racial slurs and death threats targeting the runner and her family.