A concerned mother spoke with Channel 2 Actions News’ Monica Pearson yesterday about her daughter’s struggle with mental illness.

Elaine Sabree spoke exclusively with Pearson about her daughter Nafiza Ziyad, 25, who was arrested after a MARTA passenger videotaped her verbally assaulting an elderly passenger.

After an extensive investigation, MARTA police located Ziyad on May 8 in the Fulton County jail where she was detained on unrelated charges. Ziyad is currently being held in the DeKalb County jail.

Sabree told 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.

It’s a shame that the local rag paper finally got off their hands and wrote an article about a story that casts a harsh light on the mental health crisis in Georgia.

You can’t tell that the paper has any black writers on staff. None of them had the vision to see that one of the biggest Internet stories of the year was playing out in their own back yard.

What a waste of ink and trees.