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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (CNN) – A former girlfriend of former Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Zac Stacy is tearful as she describes a violent domestic violence incident that left her badly injured and struggling to understand why the former NFL player — with whom she has three children — hit her so hard.
In a videotaped deposition made public Friday, Tiffany Williams describes an argument between Stacy and his ex-girlfriend, Jade Dwyer, who he left his three children with Williams while he headed to a nightclub in Jacksonville on New Year’s Eve. Williams said Stacy then left, picked up a gun and pistol-whipped Dwyer. She also details how the father of her children urinated on the bed where her body lay and scalded her with a hot cup of tea.
The ex-girlfriend described the incident as “homicidal violence.”
On February 4, Stacey was indicted on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident. The 34-year-old faces up to 30 years in prison.
Asked about the incident, Stacey said he’s “not fit to hold a firearm.”
“(Stacy) had a gun, told me he was going to kill me. He walked in the room and he shot me in the stomach,” Dwyer said during the deposition. “He shot me three times, at least. And tried to shoot me in the leg.”
Under cross-examination, she struggled to explain why she didn’t call 911.
“Well, me being scared, I didn’t really think that he was going to do that. I was just scared and this was the first time he’d ever done anything like that. I didn’t even think that he could hurt me like that,” Dwyer said.
Stacy’s attorney, Ben Schefner, said his client plans to plead not guilty to the aggravated battery charge. He also said Stacy’s ex-girlfriend’s account contradicts statements she made to police.
The video of the deposition was requested by Stacy’s attorney. In an interview, Schefner told CNN that Stacey is “moving forward and he continues to believe he will be vindicated.”
Williams said she asked for the deposition but it was denied because she is known to law enforcement. Schefner said he asked law enforcement for permission to release the video and was given an opportunity to speak with the detective handling the case.
In February 2016, Williams filed a domestic violence injunction against Stacy in Duval County Court, after he violently attacked her. That order was also denied because police said the criminal court was the appropriate place for the complaint.
Williams said she’d been living with Stacy and Dwyer in Jacksonville for six years and both had children with the other. She said the couple had dated for about four years before starting a relationship in early 2015. The two families became very close and would have four or five people over when everyone was together, she said.
She said she “never thought that he would do something like this” but said she was talking to him about the assault “about the same time he was doing things that hurt me” on New Year’s Eve.
“He told me he was going to divorce her. He said if I ever wanted to see our kids again that I better not talk to her,” she said.
Schefner disputed that story, saying the couple had been arguing for about 10 minutes before their argument escalated. He also said his client is entitled to protect himself and his three children from the mother of his children, “so far as maintaining his parental rights.”
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