The condition of the man whose family says was beaten by police improved enough for him to be transferred to another hospital, relatives said Wednesday.
Thomas Charles Armstrong, 37, was moved to Denver Health Medical Center after spending several days in the intensive care unit at University of Colorado Hospital. He remains in critical condition and on a ventilator, said his brother, Earl Armstrong, but his liver and kidneys have improved, and tests show his brain was not injured.
“They have hopes for his recovery,” he said of doctors treating his brother. “We’ve been praying.”
Thomas Armstrong and Denver police officer Daniel Swanson exchanged blows about 1 a.m. Friday after Armstrong attacked Swanson as he stepped from his patrol car, police said. Armstrong’s family disputes that, saying he was targeted by officers because of Earl Armstrong’s longtime criticism of police.
Meanwhile, two more conflicting stories emerged Wednesday about what happened.
Earl Armstrong introduced witness Janea Monroe, 19, at a news conference.
Monroe says she saw a blond, blue-eyed police officer on top of Armstrong’s back, with his knee in Armstrong’s neck and a weapon, either a handgun or a stun gun, to his head.
She said she was a passenger in a car that was going down East 11th Avenue at Xenia Street about 12:40 a.m. when she saw Armstrong bleeding above his eye, lying prone on the ground with the officer on top of him.
Monroe said she watched for about three minutes, but did not know that it was Armstrong on the ground until she had a chance to think about it later. Monroe says Thomas Armstrong is a friend of her child’s father.
“I did not know that was him,” she said. “If I had, I would have stopped,” she said.
Monroe said she had her cellphone with her, but did not call for help because she didn’t think it would do any good, and she needed to get home.
Monroe said the officer already had Armstrong in handcuffs and that Armstrong was yelling “Please somebody. Please anybody. Help. Help.”
Monroe’s legs shook and she cried through most of her statement. She said she was afraid to come forward with what she knows, but did so because it’s the right thing to do.
Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Monroe’s statement does not show that Armstrong was brutalized.
“There’s not anything new here,” Whitman said. “She’s not saying she saw them assaulting this guy, she’s saying he held him down. … We already know he held him down.”
Whitman said he did not know whether the officer’s account included pointing a weapon of any kind. “Even if they did, it doesn’t mean they were beating him with it.”
University of Colorado law professor Patrick Furman said the stance described by Monroe sounds like standard police protocol.
“It’s certainly not unusual to have a suspect flat on the ground, face down, gun drawn and knee in the back,” said Furman, a 25-year criminal defense lawyer.
What would be questionable, he said, is the need for any weapons if the person is handcuffed. “Once the guy’s handcuffed, it seems to me the officers should all be putting away their weapons. Common sense says there’s not a safety need.”
Meanwhile, a hospital worker who lives in the neighborhood gave a different version.
A co-worker was giving her a ride home from work about 1:10 a.m. when she said she saw two Denver police officers repeatedly kicking a handcuffed Armstrong, who kept getting up.
“I could not believe it was happening. That man was begging for mercy,” she said.
Thomas Armstrong was screaming, “Help me, somebody. Help me. They are going to kill me,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.
“It was totally unmerciful,” she said. The woman said she never called police to report what she saw.
Whitman declined to comment about what the woman said, but said he wants investigators to interview her.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
