ORLANDO, Fla. – New video released by the Orlando Police Department on Monday shows the arrest of ex-NFL player Zac Stacy on Nov. 18.
Stacy was arrested at Orlando International Airport on a warrant issued by Oakland police after he was accused of attacking the mother of his child at her Central Florida home on Nov. 13.
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Video shows Stacy cuffed by officers at his gate, without any apparent struggle, after he disembarked from a late night flight from Nashville. While confronting Stacy, police also talked to him about his NFL career and lamented what “a shame” it was to hear of his retirement due to an injury.
In the video, Stacy explains to officials he was told to report to Oakland police to face charges of aggravated battery and criminal mischief.
“The Oakland police said they just wanted a statement from me ... I wasn’t running, I had no idea about the warrant,” Stacy told officers after his arrest. “I had no idea. I was in another state because I had to leave Florida because it just wasn’t safe for me mentally.”
Stacy — who is originally from Alabama but played football for Vanderbilt in Nashville — told detectives that he just got out of rehab for anxiety and depression around eight months ago and moved to Orlando nearly six months ago to support the mother of his child, who investigators said is the victim in this case.
“I came down here and played house with her and she thought something else was going to be on,” he said in the video. “I don’t know if she’s being post-partum, but she’s just been kind of unstable ever since.”
Stacy went on to say the victim was “bitter” and out to destroy his reputation. He mentioned that the victim “got a reaction out of (him)” when she “knew (he) was down,” referring to the attack in question, which circulated on social media.
Surveillance video from the attack shows a man hitting a woman. The man then throws her into a television, which falls on her after she hits the ground. Police said this video was given to them by the victim and is being used in the ongoing investigation.
“The whole assault thing, she staged it. She set me up,” Stacy told officers.
Before being patted down and placed in a police car, Stacy told officers, “I don’t know how any man could’ve handled that situation.”
The Harbor House of Central Florida encourages anyone who is living in fear of domestic violence to call or text an advocate at 407-886-2856.