Thomas Charles Armstrong, injured during a Nov. 11 altercation with Denver police, was charged Friday with resisting arrest, a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Police say that Armstrong, 37, was approached by officer Daniel Swanson on East 11th Avenue near Xenia Street about 1 a.m. because he was acting suspiciously while walking back and forth across East 11th.
Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Swanson was attacked by Armstrong the moment he stepped from his squad car. After a four-minute struggle between Swanson and Armstrong, officer Jarrod Foust showed up, followed by Aurora officer John Christy. The three were able to subdue Armstrong, Whitman said.
But family members say Armstrong was targeted by officers because of the anti-brutality activism of his brother Earl.
The range of sentence on a Class 2 misdemeanor conviction is three to 12 months in jail and a $250 to $1,000 fine. It is less serious than a charge of second-degree assault, which occurs when somebody causes serious bodily injury to another. County judges have wide discretion and could give Armstrong probation if he is convicted.
Walter Gerash, Armstrong’s lawyer, was surprised that prosecutors didn’t file more serious charges.
“Is that all?” Gerash asked. “They may have charged him with that because it is consistent with their theory – that they arrested him for being suspicious, he was acting goofy, and when they went to him, he tussled, and that was the tussle.”
Gerash said that they couldn’t charge him with carrying a weapon because there was no weapon on Armstrong.
“Our theory is that he didn’t tussle with anyone,” Gerash said. “He said, ‘Why am I being stopped?’ We have evidence he was beaten after being handcuffed.”
Armstrong family members say the resentment Armstrong feels toward law enforcement is rooted in a field 12 miles north of Lamar. It was there in 1980, when Armstrong was 12, that Prowers County Undersheriff Larry Richardson fatally shot his father, Earl Flanders Armstrong, 36, during a manhunt. The shooting was ruled self-defense.
John Marshall, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People legal chairperson for Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, said he was unhappy any charge was filed.
“That’s the guy they beat up,” Marshall said. “I don’t have all the details, but it doesn’t appear to me that charges would be warranted. This goes back quite a ways. There is a lot more to this incident. It goes back to his mother, brother and nephews.”
Cocaine and marijuana were found in Armstrong’s system, according to his medical records. While in police custody, Armstrong stopped breathing and had no pulse. Officers revived him at the scene.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
