The former University of Kentucky student who was captured in a viral video attacking a Black student and calling her racial slurs numerous times has been sentenced for the assault.
Sophia Rosing will spend 12 months in jail, serve 100 hours of community service, and pay a $25 fine.
In August, the 23-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of disorderly conduct, and one count of public intoxication.
She was arrested in November 2022 after going on a drunken, racist outburst and physically assaulting Kylah Spring, a desk clerk at the University of Kentucky who was a freshman at the time of the attack.
Cellphone video that was widely spread online captured the moments Rosing kicked, punched, and bit Springs, putting her in the national spotlight.
A grand jury originally indicted Rosing in February 2023 on first and second-degree offenses of public intoxication, third-degree assault of a police officer, fourth-degree assault, and second-degree disorderly conduct. Rosing initially pleaded not guilty.
Rosing’s attorney Fred Peters said the sentence was “excessive.”
“What she said was awful,” Peters told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “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.”
Rosing will be held in protective custody at the Fayette County Detention Center.
“Actions have consequences and she messed around and found out,” one person wrote online of the sentence.
“Hopefully she’ll learn from this. No one deserves to be treated the way she treated that poor girl for just doing her job,” another person commented.
The attack happened at 1 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2022, when Rosing entered the university dormitory Boyd Hall, visibly inebriated, while Spring was working the front desk.
Rosing somehow made her way into the dorm without her student ID and started lashing out at Spring and hurling racial and derogatory slurs, all while physically attacking Spring.
A bystander started filming the altercation, which showed Rosing call Spring the N-word more than 200 times in 10 minutes. In that time, she also called Spring a b**** and told her to “go do her chores.”
As police took Rosing to jail, she reportedly told police she had “lots of money” and was used to getting “special treatment.” She also kicked and bit a police officer, according to court documents.
Shortly after her arrest, Rosing was suspended from the University of Kentucky and permanently banned from campus. She was also fired from her job at Dillard’s.
The student body rallied behind Spring after the attack and held a demonstration on UK’s campus to protest against racial violence.
During a plea hearing in August, Rosing reportedly apologized to Spring during a mediation. However, Spring said that Rosing never mentioned the racial slurs and motivations behind the attack during the hearing.
“I feel that a person that is remorseful takes actions that are moving towards proving they are remorseful. Not just words,” Spring told Lexington 18 News. “I forgive her more so for myself. I was raised not to hold grudges, I was raised that we give people forgiveness because God forgave us.”
