By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Yale teenager accused of threatening a male customer at a gas station with a machete, as well as possessing methamphetamine, has been ordered to appear in court on June 7 when he can seek a preliminary hearing on the felony count of assault with a dangerous weapon.
Zachary James Stone, 19, who was arraigned on the two-count charge last week, remains free on $5,000 bond, court records show.
Stone was arrested at 6:28 pm on April 2, about 32 minutes after Yale Police Officer Floyd Matheny was sent to the gas station at 102 E. Chicago on a report of a fight in progress, according to his affidavit.
The customer was standing outside a gray Toyota pickup and appeared agitated, while Stone was sitting in the driver’s seat of a 2013 Chevrolet, the affidavit said.
The officer told Stone to go talk to Yale Assistant Police Chief Ken Moore while he spoke to the customer, the affidavit said.
The customer said “he was getting gas when the Chevrolet came up behind him and started inching forward as to rush him before the pump was finished,” the affidavit said.
The customer said he “then scooted forward, and Stone flipped him off, to which he got out and a verbal argument ensued,” during which “Stone pulled out a knife and threatened him with it, and that is about the time we showed up on scene,” the Yale officer wrote in his affidavit.
When Stone was interviewed, he said “there was a verbal argument and mutual threats, but nothing involving any weapons,” the affidavit said.
The officer wrote in his affidavit that when he reviewed store camera footage, he saw Stone “put a machete out the window of the Chevrolet and was waving it around pointing it in the direction of,” the customer in what looked like a threatening manner.
After Stone was arrested, “I found a small baggy that contained a small amount of white powdery substance that due to my training and experience I know to be methamphetamine,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
When he was interviewed at the Payne County Jail, “Stone stated in his statement that he originally flipped (the customer) off and (the customer) got out of his vehicle and started threatening him. Stone said he attempted to deescalate the situation, and (the customer) kept getting closer, so he pulled the machete out and told (him) that he did not want any altercation, to which (the customer) replied ‘I have something for you,’ and reached in the back seat of his pickup and that is when we showed up on scene,” the affidavit alleged.
According to Payne County court records, the customer was not charged in the incident.
If convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, Stone could be given as much as a 10-year prison term and a $5,000 fine. If convicted of the misdemeanor drug possession count, Stone could be given up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, court records show.
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