Dozens of residents of Snyder, Oklahoma, a town of only 1,500 people, had demanded Police Chief Tod Ozmun resign, and the district attorney recommended an obscenity investigation, but its council decided last week that the pictures were protected by the First Amendment.
Yesterday Mr Ozmun, Mayor Dale Moore and Councillor Clifford Barnard said they were stepping down because they were fed up with the public attention and criticism of the chief. Another council member resigned earlier over the council's support of him.
"This has turned into a media circus," Mr Ozmun said. "I don't feel like me staying in office is going to benefit my department or my staff. This has turned into a mess. This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous."
His wife, Doris, 43, told a newspaper she was removing the photos from the internet, and they appear to have been taken down. Some show her with an American flag draped off her shoulder. She said there was "a witch hunt" going on.
The police chief said: "People in this country do what she does on a daily basis."
He says he has had long discussions with her about the photos but does not tell her what to do. "My wife is 6ft 3in and weighs 300lb. If there is somebody that thinks they can control her, have a go at it. I have tried for 11 years and haven't been able to."
But Shirley Anderson, who like her husband is an ex-mayor, said: "They have no morals as far as I'm concerned. You should have respectable people in office."