Police say Henderson officer pushed fellow officer down stairs at headquarters

A Henderson Police officer is accused of pushing a fellow officer down a flight of stairs at department headquarters, according to a recently released arrest report.

Zachary Winningham, 38, was jailed Sunday on one count of misdemeanor domestic battery, and later released on bail.

Earlier that day, the report stated, Winningham had confronted the fellow officer he said he was dating, and she suffered bruising near her kneecap. He told investigators that he remembered her falling, but denied pushing her.

Winningham initially told a lieutenant that he worked on the same squad with the officer, but refused to give her name, according to the report. He said that she had “struck him in the left arm and face,” and he had suffered a bruise.

Later, Winningham told investigators he had lied and was injured while jogging at the gym, the report stated.

He changed his story again, according to the report, and said she had punched him while he was in her car and refused to leave on Nov. 2.

He told investigators that he and the woman, whose name was redacted in the report, “are in an abusive relationship, that they are terrible for each other, but that it had never been physically violent before.”

She had blocked his phone number, he said, but he changed his number and used an app to call her from different phone numbers.

Investigators then interviewed the woman, who denied she had hit Winningham and had been scared when he had refused to leave the car on the night in question, the report stated. She tried to open the door and push him out of the car, she said, but he refused to leave until they had talked more and he had calmed down.

According to the report, Winningham then sent her photos of his bruising and threatened to report the incident to police.

He told her “that he had a music career to fall back on, but if she got fired, she has nothing,” the report stated. “He sent her texts telling her ‘tonight we are going to make the daily log baby’ in reference to reporting requirements of a battery involving officers.”

Winningham was placed on paid administrative leave, police said. He is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 6.

Court records did not list an attorney for Winningham.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.