YouTube Video Leads to Arrest

by thescribetony | May 14, 2008 at 11:10 am | 410 views | add comment

A 25-year-old woman, Nafiza Ziyad, was arrested by MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) police after a video of Ziyad harassing and threatening on older woman appeared on YouTube.

The video, posted on YouTube two weeks ago, has drawn more than 7,000 comments on the site and been viewed 600,000 times.

Ziyad's mother, Eleaine Sabree, believes that Ziyad was off her bi-polar medicine when Ziyad confronted and harassed the elder woman. The video show Ziyad’s ranting at the woman using threats, racial slurs and physical intimidation. The verbal attack continues and some people in the train are laughing. Eventually a man’s voice tells Ziayd to ‘chill’.

MARTA police have charged Ziyad with simple assault, two counts of "certain acts in transit," and disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors, in the incident they say occurred on March 10. She is in DeKalb County jail, according to a statement from MARTA police chief Wanda Dunham.

According to the article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, when MARTA police arrested Ziyad she was already being held in the Atlanta city jail on unrelated charges.