Activist Earl Andrew Armstrong has been acquitted of charges of interfering with and threatening Denver police.
A Denver County Court jury returned the verdict Monday after about an hour’s deliberation.
Prosecutors claimed that on Aug. 14, Armstrong, 40, ignored police requests to get back in his car following a traffic stop and then threatened the officers.
Armstrong has claimed that for years he has been harassed by Denver police because of his criticism of the force. He blasted the department in November 2005 after his brother, Thomas Charles Armstrong, sustained injuries while being arrested.
Mark Burton, Armstrong’s lawyer, said accounts by officers at the trial “varied a lot. Two officers said Earl was very combative when he was arrested, and three other officers and all the bystanders said he was very cooperative.”
Armstrong said Tuesday that police claimed he threatened them when he invited them to take part in a boxing match at a local gym. “That is not a threat,” he said. “That’s an invitation to a sporting event.”
Armstrong said he now plans to sue police. “I’m going to pursue this civilly because it’s got to stop,” he said.
Vince DiCroce, director of the prosecution section of the Denver city attorney’s office, said the city had no comment except that “we tried the case and the jury rendered its verdict.”
Armstrong is charged in a separate case with third-degree assault and other counts in the alleged Feb. 11 beating of a woman. Armstrong said Tuesday that case has no merit.
“All I was being arrested for was some trumped-up charges for assault,” Armstrong said. “This is a misdemeanor domestic case.”
