A Gwinnett County police officer resigned in lieu of termination Monday, one day after being arrested amid allegations that he threatened and assaulted his estranged wife.
Zachary Wilkerson, 35, is also accused of posting "a sexually explicit video" of his wife on Facebook.
According to incident reports and information released by the Gwinnett County Police Department, a friend of Wilkerson's wife reported receiving "disturbing text messages from him" on Saturday night and contacted police early Sunday.
"The text messages were so alarming that she decided to call police to check on her friend's well-being," Cpl. Deon Washington said in a news release.
Washington said officers made contact with Wilkerson's wife, who told them she was at a party Saturday when her husband showed up, took her phone without her permission, "grabbed her by the throat and pushed her" and, shortly thereafter, "pulled out his personal firearm." Other partygoers "begged" Wilkerson to put the gun down and he left with his wife's phone.
"A short time later, the sexually explicit video was uploaded on his wife's Facebook account," Washington said.
Wilkerson, a Snellville resident, was arrested at his home booked into the Gwinnett County jail just before 5:45 a.m. Sunday. He was charged with three counts of simple assault and single counts of theft by taking, battery and "transmission of video depicting nudity or sexually explicit conduct of an adult," police said.
He was released around 11:30 a.m. after posting $14,400 bond.
Wilkerson was hired by the Gwinnett County Police Department on June 22, 2015, and had been "on the street" since April 23, Washington said. He resigned Monday morning in lieu of termination.
"We find these allegations very disturbing and unbecoming of any of our core values and ethical standards," Washington said. "We do not tolerate any form of misconduct or criminal conduct by any police officer from this department. In this situation, Wilkerson represented everything that police do not stand for and we are fortunate that he is no longer an employee of this agency."
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