Denver police did not beat Thomas Charles Armstrong during an altercation early Friday morning, although they did wrestle him to the ground, where he may have been injured as they struggled to restrain him, according to a woman who says she witnessed the events from her kitchen window.
Armstrong, brother of longtime police critic Earl Armstrong, was badly injured in the incident near East 11th Avenue and Xenia Street about 1 a.m. Friday. Police say they approached Thomas Armstrong because he was behaving suspiciously, but details of the altercation and how Armstrong sustained serious head and internal injuries are in dispute.
Family members have alleged that police severely beat Thomas Armstrong in retaliation for Earl Armstrong’s activism on police issues and then sought to cover it up. Armstrong has been in critical condition at University of Colorado Hospital since the incident, breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
At a rally Monday night outside Denver’s District 2 police station, Earl Armstrong and a group of about 75 supporters, including members of the CopWatch advocacy organization, repeated their claims of police brutality.
“This one is not going to get swept under the rug,” Earl Armstrong told the crowd through a bullhorn. “This is not about me. This whole community is under attack. We’ve been taking these beatings for over 20 years. We want justice.”
In an interview with The Denver Post, Lori Sykes gave an account of Friday morning’s events that differs from the family’s contentions. Sykes’ story is also different in some respects from the accounts of officers at the scene, police sources said.
Early Thursday evening, Sykes said, she saw a man smoking from a clear glass pipe in the alley behind her home. About 1 a.m., she was awakened by cries for help, she said. From her kitchen window, she said, she saw the same man she had seen earlier lying facedown in the alley and calling for help.
Two police officers arrived in separate squad cars moments later, lifted the man and began to question him, Sykes said. The man began swinging at the officers and yelling that they were going to beat him, she said. “He said, ‘Don’t hit me. Don’t beat me,”‘ Sykes said.
As he continued to swing at them, police moved to subdue him by grappling him to the ground, Sykes said. “They did not beat him or kick him or anything,” she said. “I guess he stopped moving and the struggling down there stopped.”
Sykes said she could not tell how badly the man may have been hurt as police wrestled him to the ground.
At that point, Sykes said, one officer got close to the man’s face, and she said it appeared he was checking to see if the man was breathing or giving him CPR. Police later identified the man as Thomas Armstrong.
A police source said Sykes’ account differs in some respects from the accounts of officers at the scene. For instance, officers told investigators that Armstrong was walking upright on 11th Avenue, down the alley from Sykes’ window, when they first encountered him. Most of the struggle, they said, happened on 11th Avenue, rather than in the alley.
Because the incident remains under investigation, the department will not release the names of the officers involved or 911 dispatch tapes, Police Chief Gerry Whitman said.
Sykes said she is on Social Security disability because she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which she said is the result of the trauma of her 2-year-old daughter’s death.
Earl Armstrong disputed Sykes’ account.
“This is totally inconsistent with anybody’s story,” he said. “My brother just left his girlfriend’s house to get a pack of cigarettes about 12:42 a.m. This lady obviously has a motive. If you listen to what this lady is telling you, it’s everything fit to exonerate the police.”
Thomas Armstrong’s girlfriend, Syrita Henderson, says the incident occurred after the two were together in her nearby home. She and Thomas had a fight, she said, and he left drunk shortly before 1 a.m. It was after that that he encountered the officers, she said.
Henderson and Earl Armstrong say they were told that tests showed cocaine was found in Thomas Armstrong’s urine and blood, but they say he didn’t use cocaine and charge that police manipulated the test results.
Three representatives of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, a group of black ministers, visited the Armstrong family Monday to lend support and prayer, said the Rev. Patrick Demmer, the alliance’s vice president of political affairs.
“We are as a community very concerned,” said Demmer, pastor of Graham Memorial Church of God in Christ. “Any time a person is stopped while walking and beaten into a position to where their very life is almost taken, we are very concerned.”
Aurora police officer John Christy also went to the scene in east Denver near the Aurora border, responding to calls that officers in the area needed help.
In a written report on the incident, Christy said that when he arrived, he saw two Denver officers holding down a man in the street. The taller of the two officers was breathing hard, and Christy assumed that was because he had been in a struggle with the prone man.
Christy helped the officers try to restrain Armstrong, who Christy said was kicking and trying to push himself off the ground. Armstrong also was speaking incoherently, which Christy assumed was because he was either drunk or on drugs, the report said.
Christy then noticed a sharp metal object in Armstrong’s back pocket. He removed what turned out to be a pair of scissors. Armstrong tried to kick Christy and was trying to push himself off the ground, Christy’s report said. Christy helped restrain Armstrong’s legs, the report said.
Denver officers had control of Armstrong’s upper body so that he wasn’t able to roll over, the report said.
Christy was then relieved of his hold of Armstrong and was casually talking with another officer when he overheard one officer say Armstrong wasn’t breathing. The other officers started to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and Christy removed handcuffs restraining Armstrong, Christy’s report said.
City Police Monitor Richard Rosenthal said he is following the progress of the police investigation of the incident. He has watched interviews of two witnesses and four police officers conducted by Denver detectives, he said.
Rosenthal will review reports and make the results of the investigation public when it is complete.
“Whether I agree with the department’s findings or not, my issues or concerns related to investigation or findings will be made public. In what form, we do not know yet,” Rosenthal said.
Staff writers Eric Gorski, Jeremy Meyer, Karen Crummy and Manny Gonzales contributed to this report.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
