Zac Stacy’s ex reveals how she feared NFL player would ‘get away with’ horror attack & says she’s fighting for survivors
EVEN with the disturbing viral video of former NFL running back beating the mother of his child as evidence, she was afraid he “would get away with it.”
Kristin Evans, who survived the brutal attack, told The Sun in an exclusive interview that she still had to “be the squeaky wheel” before Zac Stacy was arrested.
“Even with the video, it was like, ‘Yeah, OK domestic violence. We’ll just put this as battery,'” Evans said.
But that wasn’t good enough for the psychologist in training.
“I called back four days in a row before the investigator got back to me and saw videos and finally got the (arrest warrant),” she told The Sun.
“It took some effort on my part to be able to get this situation going. And by that time he left the state. So even with the video, i felt like he was going to get away with it.”
Stacy had left Florida, where Evans lived, to go back to his home in Nashville.
The former New York Jets and St. Louis Rams running back turned himself in and flew back to Florida and was arrested in Orlando airport, Oakland, Florida police said.
He was ultimately charged with second-degree aggravated battery and third-degree criminal mischief, both felonies.
“I don’t hate him,” Evans told The Sun. “I hate what he did.”
‘KEEP FIGHTING’
Evans’ case highlights the difficulty many domestic abuse survivors have.
Despite the high-profile nature of the incident because the suspect is an ex-NFL player and the video evidence that was widely shared on social, Evans said she had to be persistent to get results.
And that’s why she’s fighting through her PTSD to talk about the traumatic issue.
“My message to all the domestic abuse survivors is to keep fighting,” Evans told The Sun.
“What (domestic abusers) want you to do is become silent because then it goes away,” she said. “If I stop fighting, then I’m gone and he’s gone and everyone can go back to their lives.”
THE AFTERMATH AND IMPACT ON EVANS’ BABY
In the moments after the assault, police found Evans “emotionally distraught” the arrest warrant said.
Her “shirt was torn, and she had food in her hair,” the responding officer said in the arrest warrant, which was obtained by The Sun through an open records request.
“The television was knocked over and damaged after the perpetrator threw the victim into it, and the remote was broken on the floor.
“Food was spilled all around the living room, and the baby’s bouncy chair was knocked over and broken,” the arrest warrant said.
Stacy was seen in the video beating Evans and tossing her into the TV and baby’s bouncy chair.
The entire time, Evans’ five-month-old son watched, and she’s concerned about the impacts the violent incident will have on him.
“Will he remember the event itself? I doubt it,” Evans said.
“But your nervous system develops from the time the mother becomes pregnant until about five or six, so whatever he experiences early in his life will be a trigger or a trauma response. He will in some way be affected by this.
“And he’s definitely had some behavioral changes already. He’s more aware and he couldn’t sleep for a few days. He really does feel the change in the environment.”
ESCALATING HOSTILITY
Before the video went viral, Stacy’s aggression towards Evans escalated since August.
There were at least two domestic disturbance calls that police responded to since August that appeared to show how Stacy’s aggression escalated towards his ex Kristin Evans, according to allegations in police reports exclusively obtained by The Sun.
The Sun – through Freedom of Information requests – revealed that there were at least two other incidents in August and September.
On August 16, Stacy and Evans fought over rent money that Stacy demanded Evans payback, according to the police report.
“When Stacy exited the house and throughout the course of being on scene, Stacy kept menacingly staring while she cried,” the police report claimed.
On September 26, Evans called police again and reported that Stacy hit her with a stack of mail across her face while she held her baby, according to the police report.
There were no visible marks, according to the report, but “she has a ringing in her ear on the side she was struck.”
By the time police arrived, Stacy was gone and Evans was found “emotionally distraught with tears in her eyes while holding her baby.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or chat at thehotline.org.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS