ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) — Orlando police released a body camera video of former NFL player Zac Stacy being arrested Monday, showing him tell officers his ex-girlfriend “staged” the video that appears to show him assaulting her..
“The whole thing was staged,” he said. “All she was trying to do was get money out of me. She got a reaction out of me. She knew I was down. She knew I was going through anxiety and depression. She knew I was going close this gap between me and my son.”
He added that she is just “bitter” because he does not want to be with her.
“It’s unfortunate because I just got rehab for anxiety depression over eight months ago,” he said. “I dropped everything to come down and support the mother of my child in her last trimester and the baby, and I let her know I wasn’t trying to be with her or nothing like that. Just a case of bitterness, man. That’s why she did this. The whole assault thing, she staged it. She set me up.”
He also claimed he wasn’t running, but instead he had to leave Florida because it “wasn’t safe for him mentally.” Stacy claimed he didn’t know about the warrant for his arrest.
Orlando police arrested Stacy after he was accused of beating his ex-girlfriend, Kristin Evans, in Oakland. He was on the run for a week before he was taken into custody.
Evans was seen in a graphic video that’s gone viral. In it, she is thrown into a TV and slammed to the ground while her baby is in the room.
Following his arrest, a judge ordered Stacy to have no contact with the victim, turn in his passport and surrender any firearms. Stacy’s bond was set at $10,150 and he has since been released.
He is charged with aggravated battery and criminal mischief.
Evans testified against Stacy during one of his court appearances.
“I am afraid for my safety and for my children’s safety,” Evans said. “My injuries from this incident are serious and likely permanent from what I’ve been told.”
Evans told the judge she fears for her life.
“It was absolute hell and I know women have gone through worse. To feel what I felt, I can’t imagine for it to be worse,” she said.
People who are in domestic violence situations can call Harbor House’s 24-hour hotline at 407-886-2856. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is also available at 800-799-7233.
