Partner of fallen Milwaukee police officer faces charges of domestic abuse

WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The partner of a fallen Milwaukee police officer is facing domestic abuse charges.

Matthew Schulze was behind the wheel when his squad car crashed, killing Officer Charles Irvine Jr. last year. 

Schulze appeared in a Waukesha County courtroom Wednesday afternoon, charged with assaulting his wife.

According to her, it's violence that started long before the tragic day that took his partner's life.

Just last month she says he was in a rage and cut her arm with a shard of broken glass. 

She says in 2018 he punched her in the back of the head so hard she got a concussion and may have caused a blood clot. She says over the past two years he would strangle her until she went limp, and she constantly feared for her life.

She says she didn't report it because Schulze said he'd lose his job. 

Schulze was put on leave after the crash that killed Irvine. 

In January, his wife says he threatened to kill himself, his guns were taken away, and he was put in a mental health facility.

She says he was prescribed Lithium, but stopped taking it in earlier this month.

On August 12 she walked into the New Berlin Police Department and turned her husband in.

It's not clear whether Schulze was back with MPD or was still on leave. 

CBS 58 reached out to the Milwaukee Police Department but have not heard back. 

Schulze faces three misdemeanor counts of domestic abuse.