Suspect in Aniah Blanchard murder faces additional charge of biting corrections officer

OPELIKA, Ala. (WIAT) — The man accused of kidnapping and killing 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard last year is facing additional charges for allegedly biting a corrections officer at the jail he is being held in.

Ibraheem Yazeed, 30, has been charged with allegedly biting one officer on the leg after fighting with officers for refusing to enter his cell. He is charged with second degree assault.

According to court records filed Friday, Yazeed had finished a shower at the Lee County Detention Center on March 23 when Officers Carl Key, Christopher Carroll and Steven Barner tried to get him to go into his cell.

However, Yazeed reportedly refused and started becoming hostile to the commands.

“Officers continued to give him verbal commands and Officer Carroll Gave him one while having his taser out and he refused to enter his cell,” the document stated.

Carroll then deployed the taser on Yazeed, who allegedly started swinging at and kicking Carroll. He was then tased several more times and the other officers began hitting Yazeed with batons.

“Officer Dunlap responded to assisted and while attempting to gain control of Ibraheem, Ibraheem bit Officer Dunlap on the lower leg,” the document read. “Corrections Officers were able to gain control of Ibraheem and place him into his cell.”

Yazeed has been in jail since being caught in Escambia County, Florida since November 7, 2019 for warrants of kidnapping Aniah Blanchard, who had been reported missing since Oct. 23 in Auburn. On Nov. 25, Blanchard’s remains were found in the woods outside Shorter.

Yazeed has a history of violent encounters with law enforcement. He reportedly got in a fight with arresting officers when he was found in Florida and was seen with a swollen eye in his booking mugshot.

In January 2012, he was charged with trying to kill two Montgomery police officers by ramming his car into the side of their squad car. However, a grand jury never indicted him in the case. In 2017, he was arrested for aggravated battery on a police officer in Kansas.

Yazeed also has a separate case in Montgomery, where he is charged with robbing a man, as well as beating him and holding him against his will, in addition to beating another man “near death.”

The Blanchard case has been sent to a grand jury. Yazeed’s next hearing is in June.