It took six Rock Springs police officers to subdue a 25-year-old man who threatened to stab them at a local Pizza Hut restaurant, claiming he’d been in prison, that the “cartel” wanted him for being a “snitch” and daring police to “kill me, bitch!”
Zane T. Gavin of Phoenix, Arizona, was charged and had his initial appearance in Sweetwater County Circuit Court on Thursday, nearly a month after he refused to leave the Pizza Hut on Gateway Boulevard, with two counts of aggravated assault and three of interference with a peace officer.
What started as a call from the restaurant to remove a man who had fallen asleep at a table Aug. 12 ended with an armed confrontation, threats to kill officers, demands officers kill him, and the Pizza Hut being evacuated, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case by Rock Springs Police Chief Bill Erspamer.
Police were called to the restaurant at about 3:15 p.m. on a report of a man who came in an hour earlier, ordered two pizzas, retrieved a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey from his vehicle, then drank about two-thirds of it before falling asleep in a booth, the affidavit says.
That’s how Officers Brady Veach and Aaron Hager found Gavin, who immediately became belligerent and combative when they woke him up, according to the affidavit.
With slurred speech and unsteady on his feet, Gavin told the officers that he “had been in prison and that the ‘cartel’ was calling him a ‘snitch,’” the chief wrote.
When informed that it’s illegal to be intoxicated in public in Rock Springs and that he was being arrested, Gavin reportedly responded, “No, I’m not doing that” and sat back down in the booth, the affidavit says.
Tense Confrontation
When Veach grabbed Gavin by the arm and told him to stand up, the Arizona man — who stands 6 feet tall and weighs about 260 pounds — “reached into the booth with his right hand and pulled out a red-and-brown-handled fillet knife that he had stashed between the seat and the wall,” the affidavit says.
The document continues that Gavin then held the knife at chest level with his fist clenched around the handle and the blade facing down and shouted, “Brother, I’m not doing that!”
Now threatened by someone with a weapon, the two officers backed away while Gavin “pounded the knife blade into the table several times while shouting, ‘F***ing kill me motherf***er!’” the affidavit says.
“From a seated position, Gavin false-lunged at officers Hager and Veach while shouting, ‘Kill me bitch!’” it adds.
Refusing commands to drop the knife, he continued to tell officers to shoot him while stating that he was not going back to prison, Erspamer wrote.
Officers had pulled their firearms and attempted to talk Gavin into dropping the knife, while also evacuating the restaurant because employees and customers were gathering to see what was going on.
“Realizing the danger Gavin had recklessly caused, and knowing that they were very likely to discharge their firearms, both officers ordered the evacuation of the restaurant,” the affidavit says.
‘Shoot Me Bitch!’
The two officers continued to negotiate with Gavin during what the affidavit calls a “tense standoff” that lasted for eight minutes while other officers responded to the Pizza Hut.
Throughout that time, the Arizona man continued to state that he would not go to jail, the affidavit says, along with “things like, ‘Let’s go!’ ‘F***ing shoot me bitch!’ and that he wanted to be killed by officers.”
Among the other responding officers was one with his K-9 partner, and when Gavin saw the animal, he reportedly said that he would “stab that dog,” according to the affidavit.
While the first two officers had their service weapons drawn during the confrontation, one of the other responding officers brought a less-lethal beanbag shotgun.
“After being hit by the beanbag round, Gavin stood up and advanced toward the officers with the knife pointed toward them,” the affidavit says. “Gavin flexed both arms and shouted, ‘Come on mother***ers!’”
He was then hit with three more beanbag rounds, but each bounced off him as he was “fixated on Officer Hager,” the chief wrote.
That’s when Veach hit Gavin with a taser, which took the man to the floor. But even down, he continued to fight.
“Officer Hager had to jump to avoid being stabbed with the knife,” the affidavit says.
It took six officers to finally wrestle the knife from Gavin and secure him for arrest. During that fight, Gavin became unresponsive and emergency medical responders at the scene were called in, according to the affidavit.
The document doesn’t elaborate on Gavin’s condition after he was subdued.
If convicted of the two counts of aggravated assault, Gavin could get up to 20 years in prison if sentenced to consecutive terms, and up to a year each for the three misdemeanor interference charges.
A preliminary hearing for his case has been set for Sept. 17.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
