Carolina Panthers’ Damien Wilson allegedly threatened to kill ex-girlfriend

Carolina Panthers linebacker Damien Wilson is facing charges after his ex-girlfriend claimed he threatened to kill her with a tire iron and destroyed her laptop, police said.

Wilson, a 28-year-old linebacker signed by the Panthers last month, was arrested in Frisco, Texas, last week for assault with bodily injury of a family member, police told the Dallas Morning News.

Wilson’s ex-girlfriend, Ryan Sokolosky, told the newspaper he showed up at her apartment drunk and enraged after she broke up with him.

The pair started dating in March 2020, but later broke up before getting back together in February, according to Sokolosky, who gave the newspaper permission to publish her name.

But Sokolosky caught the 6-foot-1, 245-pound Wilson cheating on her with another woman and went to his home to collect her belongings, she said.

She later went back to her apartment, where she saw that Wilson had damaged her patio and took her dogs with a friend back to her car. Wilson then came out of nearby bushes while holding a tire iron and threatening to kill her, Sokolosky said.

A friend of Sokolosky’s then ran back into her apartment and Wilson followed her before choking the woman inside. He then emerged from the unit while holding a blanket wrapped around what Wilson claimed was Sokolsky’s cat before slamming it to the ground, according to the report.

“I was screaming like I’m being skinned alive,” Wilson’s ex recalled.

The cat wasn’t inside the blanket, however. It held Sokolsky’s laptop, which was destroyed, she said. Wilson then hopped into his car and tried to run his ex-girlfriend over before driving off. Sokolsky said she had obtained a protective order against Wilson.

“He thinks all of it’s a joke because he’s rich and thinks he’s going to get out of everything,” Sokolsky told the Dallas Morning News.

Wilson’s attorney, meanwhile, denied the allegations.

“Damien Wilson did not commit any type of assault,” attorney Toby Shook told the newspaper. “We look forward to all the facts coming out so his name can be cleared.”

The Panthers are aware of Wilson’s arrest, but had no comment on the incident. Wilson was still listed on the team’s roster as of early Tuesday.

Wilson, an eight-year NFL veteran who won a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020, was accused of threatening a man with a rifle outside Frisco’s Toyota Stadium in 2017 after a woman said he backed his truck into her.

The former Dallas Cowboys draft pick was arrested on aggravated assault charges in what he said was road rage incident, but a grand jury declined to indict him, the Dallas Morning News reported.