Daniel Prince
Man originally was warned to get out of the road
A 19-year-old Union man was arrested for public disorderly conduct, assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest, and pedestrian on the roadway. On Sunday afternoon, Cpl. Cole Stanley was traveling north on the bypass when he saw a white male walking in the roadway headed southbound. Stanley rolled down his window and asked the man to get out of the road before he got hit. The man cursed at Stanley and told him to mind his own business. Stanley then turned his vehicle around and asked the man to repeat what he had said. The man repeated it, and Stanley told him to place his hands behind his back, and that he was under arrest. The man stated that cussing in the road was not a crime. Stanley again asked the man to put his hands behind his back. The man cursed at Stanley again and pulled a black knife out of his pocket and charged at Stanley in the middle of the road. Stanley deployed his taser and fired a cartridge at the man. A few seconds later, the man threw the knife at Stanley. Stanley, seeing the taser was ineffective, drew his service weapon and gave the man verbal commands. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out another knife. Stanley told him to drop it and to get down on his stomach. After a few minutes of verbal commands, the man threw his other knife and began to comply. Stanley checked the man for taser prods and asked if he was hurt at all. The man said he was not. He was then transported to Union County Jail, where he was identified as 19-year-old Tristan Zackary Stephens, of Woodlawn Avenue. Stanley noted his body-worn camera was not working at the time of the incident, but he did have in-car video of the incident.