John Jefferson
Background: Sophia Rosing appears in court to plead guilty to assault and other charges (WLEX). Inset: Rosing attacking victim Kylah Spring in 2022 (YouTube/Jess the Billionaire).
A 23-year-old former student at the University of Kentucky will spend a year behind bars after she was caught on camera drunkenly attacking a Black student-employee on campus while hurling more than 200 racial slurs during the 10-minute onslaught.
Fayette Circuit Court Judge Lucy Vanmeter on Thursday ordered Sophia Rosing to serve a sentence of 12 months in jail over the racist 2022 attack, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
Rosing previously pleaded guilty to four counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of disorderly conduct, and one count of public intoxication. Vanmeter handed down a 12-month sentence for each of the assault charges, with the terms running concurrently, meaning at the same time. In addition to her incarceration, Rosing was also ordered to pay a fine of $25 and complete 100 hours of community service.
Rosing, a senior at the time, was later permanently banned from the campus.
Her attorney, Fred Peters, told the Lexington Herald-Leader that he believed the sentence handed down to his client was “excessive.”
“What she said was awful,” Peters reportedly told the newspaper. “She got into a scuffle with the clerk and bit people on the hand; I think she did not deserve a sentence of 12 months in prison for the very first offense her in life.”
Peters added, “It was not a good day for Sophia Rosing.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, the incident occurred when a visibly drunk Rosing entered Boyd Hall in the early morning hours of Nov. 6, 2022, without her student ID and began verbally berating a Black student-employee — later identified as Kylah Spring — who was working behind the desk. Spring was a freshman from Tennessee.
Sophia Rosing (Lexington County Sheriff’s Office).
Video of the incident that quickly went viral appeared to show an extremely intoxicated Rosing making several attempts to strike Spring while also referring to her as a “n—” and a “n— b—.”
Spring appears to remain calm and collected throughout the violently racist episode, grabbing Rosing by the wrists and repeatedly asking her to “please stop.”
“I don’t get paid enough for this,” Spring says to the person filming the attack while continuing to restrain Rosing. Rosing appears to respond by just repeating the racial slur over and over. Several students appear to walk by the incident and comment that Rosing had likely just ruined her future.
As Rosing continued her confrontation, so did her insults.
“It’s not my fault that you’re Black,” she said.
“Do my chores,” she was also heard saying.
After someone in the background of the video could be heard saying “you just ruined your life,” Rosing responded, “no I didn’t” twice. She then called the person recording an “ugly ass n—” and stated, “that’s why you can’t get a job.”
The Herald-Leader reported that, in total, Rosing used racial slurs some 200 times in 10 minutes.
Rosing’s abhorrent behavior continued even after police arrived on the scene. She reportedly was not carrying any identification with her and refused to provide police with her name. She kicked and bit one of the arresting officers and began singing the racial slur while she was being handcuffed.
The incident also led to Rosing being fired from two jobs, one with Dillard’s department store and another as a student influencer.
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