Ex-University of Kentucky Student Pleads Guilty After Racist Attack of Black Student Was Caught on Video

A former University of Kentucky student who physically assaulted and shouted racial slurs at a Black student has pleaded guilty to several charges, according to multiple news reports.

On Monday, Aug. 12, Sophia Rosing, 23, pleaded guilty to four counts of fourth-degree assault as well as one count of disorderly conduct and public intoxication in Fayette County Circuit Court, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, USA Todayand WLEX-TV. 

On Nov. 6, 2022, Rosing, who is White, was accused by authorities of physically assaulting and repeatedly shouting racial slurs at Kylah Spring, who is Black, at the campus residence hall where Spring worked, USA Today reported. The incident was caught on video and went viral on social media.

University police responded to the scene and said in a police report cited by the Herald-Leader that Rosings appeared “very intoxicated” and resisted arrest, adding that she kicked an officer and bit the officer’s hand. She was later permanently banned from campus.

“As a community working to prevent racist violence, we also must be committed to holding people accountable for their actions,” University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouoto said in a statement at the time, according to USA Today.

Monday’s guilty pleas came after a mediation earlier that day in which Rosing’s attorney, Fred Peters, said, “A lot of things got said, apologies were made and we worked it out,” the Herald-Leader reported. 

Rosing, he claimed, “has had a lot of time to think about what she has done, and she wrote a nice letter of apology.”

Spring addressed the guilty plea on Monday, telling WLEX-TV that she forgives Rosing but notes that the process hasn’t been easy.

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“I forgive her more so for myself,” Spring told the outlet. “I was raised not to hold grudges, I was raised that we give people forgiveness because God forgave us. It’s a hard thing for me to come to terms with, but in the end, I want to live a life where people can say I was a kind and forgiving person.”

According to WLEX-TV, Spring has since founded The Spirit & Grace Project to provide support to other Black women attending colleges and universities where White people are the majority.

Rosing faces up to a year in prison and 100 hours of community service, USA Today reported. 

Public court records show she’s scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 17.

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