DOCUMENT: Internet, Crime

Gang Duo Pleads To Brutal Filmed Attack Of Woman

Video of assault by California thugs went viral last year

Sacramento Attack

MARCH 5--Two California street gang members have been convicted of the unprovoked assault of a defenseless woman, the video of which went viral last year.

Court records show that Rasaan Zawadi, 21, and Donnell Wade, 19, have copped to felony charges related to the October 1 attack outside a strip mall in Sacramento.

In the video of the attack, Zawadi can be seen striking the woman in the face, which elicited gales of laughter from a pal of Zawadi’s who was recording the crime. After the disoriented woman chased Zawadi down the sidewalk, she encountered Wade, who decked her with a vicious roundhouse left.

With his victim crumpled on the sidewalk, Wade walked right past the camera, never attempting to hide his face.

During a Superior Court hearing last Thursday, Zawadi was sentenced to 240 days in jail and five years supervised probation. However, “good time credits” split Zawadi’s sentence in half, triggering his recent release from the Sacramento County jail (where he had ben held since his arrest).

Wade, who has been locked up since his mid-November arrest, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 23. Zawadi (left) and Wade are pictured in the above mug shots.

Video of the assault was uploaded to the Worldstar Hip Hop web site, where it was viewed by TSG. After determining the location of the attack, a reporter contacted the Sacramento Police Department for comment. Cops, who were unaware of the clip’s existence, reported that dispatch records revealed that a shop owner had called 911 to report that some men had filmed themselves tormenting and hitting a woman.

By the time officers arrived at the strip mall, the assailants had fled, and the victim--who declined medical attention--did not want to file a report. But when the video went viral and prompted public outrage, investigators quickly identified Zawadi and Wade as the woman’s attackers.