A Columbus police officer accused of strangling his live-in girlfriend, leading to multiple felony charges, has resigned from the department.
Timothy Fuller, 42, resigned effective July 6, Columbus police confirmed. He had been a police officer since July 2013.
Fuller is charged with multiple felonies related to an alleged June 16 domestic violence incident at the home he shared with his girlfriend.
Court records say around 12:40 a.m. on June 17, Hilliard police pulled over a woman on Hilliard Rome Road for speeding. The woman told police she intentionally sped past them so she could report the domestic incident.
According to court records, the woman said Fuller strangled her multiple times on June 16 to the point of unconsciousness at the couple’s home on the Far West Side.
The woman received treatment for injuries at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital and an examination found bruising in different areas of her body, swelling of her nose and forehead and other injury indicators, court records say.
The woman told officers she woke up on the floor at the foot of her bed and Fuller whipped her with a piece of leather, as well as threatened to kill her. Court records say Fuller took the woman’s phone so she could not call for help.
Around 10 p.m. that night, the woman said Fuller left for work and she called 911, court records say, but she then became fearful that he would hear about her 911 call and decided to go to another department for help.
The woman saw a Hilliard police cruiser and decided to speed by it so the officer would pull her over and she could make the report, the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office said.
Evidence at the couple’s home confirmed portions of the woman’s story, the prosecutor’s office said, including blood on the carpet of the bedroom.
Fuller appeared on July 13 for an arraignment in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and pleaded not guilty.
Fuller is one of several officers named in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of a woman killed by her partner after she reported allegations of domestic violence.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police officer resigns after alleged domestic violence incident
Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
