Victim turns out to be mother of Morehouse head football coach

Nafiza Z., known as “Soulja Girl” in a caught-on-video rant against an elderly Atlanta rail (MARTA) passenger, was arrested recently. She was already on probation for spitting on a MARTA cop in January.

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According to documents filed in DeKalb State Court after Nafiza Ziyad’s most recent arrest last week, the 25-year-old Decatur woman failed to report to probation officers and performed none of the 40 hours of community service required by a plea bargain on the earlier charge.

MARTA police announced Tuesday that Ziyad had been charged with simple assault and other misdemeanors in an episode aboard a train March 10. That came after an online sensation over a video showing a young woman raging against a white-haired train passenger.

Ziyad remained in the DeKalb jail Wednesday.

A woman who said she was Ziyad’s mother, Elaine Sabree, said Ziyad was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder three years ago.

An arrest warrant in DeKalb court records shows an officer was called to a bus stop on Snapfinger Woods Drive on Jan. 24 because of Ziyard’s “disorderly conduct.” Ziyad spat in the officer’s face and ran, court documents said.

After 11 days in jail, Ziyad pleaded guilty to simple battery and was placed on probation for a year. A probation officer recommended in last week’s filing that Ziyad should spend 30 days in jail for violating the terms of her probation.

Her mother Elaine Sabree told Channel 2 Action News’ Monica Pearson her daughter was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 3 years ago. But Ziyad had been off her medication for some time prior to the incident on the train. “I was shocked,” said Sabree who told Pearson that her daughter was off her medication because, “She didn’t believe she was bipolar.”

The elderly MARTA passenger was identified as Mary Freeman, the mother of Morehouse head football coach Richard Freeman. Mr. Freeman said his mother was never angry with Ziyad because she knew the young woman was “troubled”. He also said the family would not press charges.

Sabree told Pearson she decided not to bail her daughter out of jail for her own safety because she fears the public will attack her.

Sabree said that when Ziyad is herself she is an ambitious, bright and happy person, and that when she visited her in jail Tuesday she was remorseful. She hopes this incident will convince Ziyad to take her medication.

“She’s sorry that it happened,” Sabree said. “She’s going to apologize. She didn’t remember the incident, but when MARTA showed her the video the memory came back.”

The video shows a young woman turning around to yell at a white-haired passenger in the seat in behind her, then standing up and shouting at her in a freestyle rap. The older woman’s face isn’t visible and MARTA is withholding her identity.

The young woman’s rant is laced with profanity and racial slurs. She doesn’t appear to touch the older woman, but in the course of yelling at her lunges close and makes a motion slapping the air back and forth. Other passengers in the car do nothing at first, but occasionally laugh, until what sounds like a male voice says, “It’s an old lady, man, chill.”

The young woman turns to the voice and says “Old lady? You know what this old lady called me?” then calms down and sits down for a moment before getting up again. She moves toward the voice and down the aisle, screaming and appearing highly disturbed as other passengers get up and try to deal with her or give her space.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 8:24 am and is filed under Gossip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.