A woman told police that activist and police critic Earl Andrew Armstrong beat her because she wouldn’t answer her ringing cellphone, court records say.
The 26-year-old woman, identified by police as Melanie Johnson, said the 40-year-old Armstrong is her ex-boyfriend and the father of her three children.
Armstrong, arrested early Sunday in the 4500 block of Granby Way in the Montbello neighborhood shortly after the alleged beating, appeared in Denver County Court on Monday wearing a T-shirt that read “Large and in Charge.”
Judge Melvin Okamoto told Armstrong he was being held for investigation of assault. The judge set Armstrong’s bail at $10,000 and told him to stay away from Johnson if he posts bond.
According to an investigator’s statement filed with Okamoto, Johnson claimed Armstrong kicked and punched her repeatedly on her face and body. She said she ultimately fell backwards and briefly lost consciousness, according to police.
Johnson said that even after she went down, Armstrong continued to hit her until she was able to get away from him and run out of the house, police said.
Johnson said that Armstrong “had gotten mad at her cellphone ringing and her not wanting to answer in his presence,” police said.
Johnson told police she had been in a six-year relationship with Armstrong.
Armstrong has been a longtime critic of Denver police and was especially critical of the department in November 2005 after his 38-year-old brother, Thomas Charles Armstrong, sustained injuries while being arrested.
Earl Armstrong contends his brother was beaten by Denver and Aurora police in retaliation for a complaint that Earl Armstrong filed against a Denver police officer in 2003.
Police said Thomas Armstrong was on drugs and was combative at the time of his arrest. Armstrong, who was in a coma for two weeks, was charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
