Zac Stacy Makes Jaw-Dropping Claim About Alleged Beating Of Ex-Girlfriend
Former NFL running back Zac Stacy, who appeared to brutally beat his ex-girlfriend in a video posted to social media last month, offered a shocking excuse to the cops when he turned himself in.
Stacy told arresting officers the incident with Kristin Evans was “staged” and that she manipulated him into violence, according to police body-camera footage that TMZ published Monday.
“This is a case of just bitterness, man,” Stacy told the officers. “That’s why she did this. The whole assault thing, she staged it. She set me up.”
Stacy continued with his questionable claim: “Whole thing was staged. All she’s trying to do is just get money out of me. She got a reaction out of me.”
Stacy went on the lam after video went viral that appeared to show him striking Evans, the mother of their infant son, and throwing her into a television. But he eventually returned to the Orlando, Florida, area, where officers arrested him on Nov. 18 and charged him with aggravated battery and criminal mischief.
Evans posted a portion of the arrest clip, as shown by an NBC affiliate, on her Facebook page.
“I don’t know how you can stage getting your ass beat,” Evans said in her own video Monday. “This is what abusers do. They will make you seem like you’re the crazy one and that they’re the victim.”
Stacy was visiting Evans and the baby at her home when he erupted in a jealous rage on Nov. 13, Evans told investigators. Home surveillance video captured the apparent attack. Oakland, Florida, police said officers arrived within two minutes of a domestic disturbance call, but Stacy had already fled.
Evans said in a restraining order that Stacy had been abusing her since she became pregnant with their child last year, the New York Post noted.
But Stacy told cops upon his return to Orlando that Evans goaded him into violence because she was upset he didn’t want to continue their romantic relationship.
“Girl is just bitter that I don’t want to be with her, and she’s just trying to destroy my whole reputation,” he said.
Stacy played for the St. Louis Rams in 2013 and 2014, and for the New York Jets in 2015.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
