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County commissioner, student charged with assault




Evans

Evans

A Cheatham County commissioner was charged with assault last month after a conflict with a local teenager over a family dog, according to a report obtained by the Cheatham County Exchange.

Eugene Evans, who has been a commissioner for six years, and Pegram resident Zack Cantrell, 18, were both charged with simple assault after the Sept. 29 altercation.

Cantrell, a student at Harpeth High School, showed up at Evans’ home after someone told him his missing dog had been seen there, Cantrell told the Cheatham County Exchange. The family had been looking for the dog for five or six days and his brother, Nick, had gone to Evans’ house earlier in the day to look for it.

Nick Cantrell saw Evans in the back of the residence and honked his car horn to get his attention, according to the incident report. Evans approached the car and screamed at him not to honk the horn and to get off his property, Nick Cantrell said, according to the report. Nick Cantrell also told deputies that he honked the horn at Evans one more time as he was leaving, according to the report.

When Zack Cantrell, his mother and his 8-year-old brother showed up at the house, Evans was angry and threatened the family, Zack said. When Zack turned around to leave, he was hit in the face by Evans, he said. When police arrived, Zack had a large cut on the bottom right part of his lip, according to the report.

Deputies noticed that Evans had some dried blood around his nose and mouth after the altercation, according to the report. Zack did hit Evans, but only in self-defense, Zack said.

“I wouldn’t come to a person’s house and start a fight about a dog,” he said.

Deputies also noted that Evans was “extremely intoxicated” and could “barely keep his balance while talking to us,” according to the report.

“I could also smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from about his person,” according to a report written by a responding deputy.

Evans told the deputies that Zack Cantrell had showed up to his house asking about the dog and then became aggressive and eventually punched Evans in the face, according to the report. Both Evans and Zack were charged with simple assault, a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 11 months and 29 days in the county jail.

Evans told the Cheatham County Exchange that he completely contested Zack’s version of events but did not want to comment on the specifics of what happened. He called the story lies and said the truth would be proven in court. He also said he did not plan to drop the charges against Zack.

Both Zack and Evans pleaded not guilty at an Oct. 10 hearing, according to county clerk Julie Hibbs. There will be a public hearing for the case Nov. 14, Hibbs said.

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