21-year-old Rasaan Ali Zawadi, Jr. is a free man today after his public defender was able to secure her client a sentence of time-served and 60-days of electronic monitoring, according to a report in the Sacramento Bee. Zawadi was one of two men featured in an online viral video that depicted a developmentally disabled woman being taunted by the pair, spit-upon, and the knocked out cold in front of a strip mall in South Sacramento. The other man, 19-year-old Donnell Wade, is facing a Sacramento Superior Court Judge himself on Thursday.
Last October, a video appeared on the website WorldStarHipHop.com, and in it Zawadi and Wade circled around a woman while a videographer laughed and egged them both on. Each took their turn and hit her in the face, with Wade’s punch knocking the woman briefly unconscious. Media coverage of the video angered many in Sacramento, and the suspects were quickly identified. Zawadi was arrested by Sheriff’s deputies on October 13th during another unrelated incident.
According to Assistant Public Defender Amy Rogers, Zawadi is developmentally disabled, just like the woman he assaulted in the video. He’s endured two traumatic brain injuries, and as part of his plea arrangement he will receive a recommendation for treatment at the Alta Regional Center, a state-run facility that helps people with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, and other developmental disabilities.
Zawadi originally was also charged with an additional gang enhancement due to his affiliation with the Starz and Valley Hi Piru street gangs. As part of the plea deal, that enhancement was dropped, and Zawadi must stay away from the area where the attack occurred.
The woman attacked by the pair is said to be “doing as well as she was before” the incident and has been relocated to a more secure housing situation.
Source: Sacramento Bee
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Thank you for posting this Issac. I am trying to find out if the woman was homeless? Do you know anything about that?
According to the Bee, she was placed in a metal health care facility.