PHOTOS SHOW INJURIES

Police deny claims about altercation; kin may end life support

The family of a man who police say got into an altercation with them
said Sunday that they are considering taking him off of life support
and claimed officers severely beat him because of his brother's
crusade against police brutality.

Officials at University Hospital, where Thomas Charles Armstrong, 37,
was taken after the incident early Friday, would not comment on his condition.

Photographs taken by Armstrong's mother, Rebecca Romero, showed him
with both eyes blackened and bleeding, and breathing with the aid of
a ventilator. He also had a laceration and bruising on his right arm
below the biceps.

His brother, Earl Armstrong, said Sunday that Thomas also had swollen
testicles and was bleeding from his rectum. "They obviously kicked
him while he was down," he said.

Earl Armstrong said he believes his brother was beaten by police in
retaliation for a complaint that Earl Armstrong filed against Denver
police in 2003.

Earl Armstrong has been an outspoken critic of the department after
past shootings of civilians and other instances of alleged excessive
force by police.

"T.C. (Thomas Charles) was not the kind of person who would purposely
get into a fight with police," Earl Armstrong said. "If he saw them
coming, he would run in the opposite direction.

"I knew they were coming to get us for speaking out against (police).
I didn't think it would come to this."

A Denver police spokeswoman said those allegations aren't true.

"Members of the Denver Police Department are not going to respond to
outlandish allegations from those that are pursuing their own agenda
and are driven by emotion and speculation," Virginia Lopez said at a
news conference Sunday.

Meanwhile, detectives and a new independent police monitor are
continuing to unravel what occurred during the incident, in which
police say Thomas Armstrong, who was unarmed, attacked a police
officer stepping from his patrol car to question him about
unspecified "suspicious" activity at East 11th Avenue and Xenia Street.

Lopez said the initial investigation found that the officer obeyed
all department rules and procedures.

Police said that Armstrong stopped breathing twice at the scene, and
was revived once by the officer he allegedly assaulted and a second
time by paramedics.

"Let me reiterate the very important fact that here we have an
(officer) who was just attacked by the suspect and his immediate
concern now is making an attempt to save this person's life," Lopez said.

Lopez offered few details about the alleged struggle between
Armstrong and the officer, except to say that the suspect rushed the
officer as he stepped from his patrol car to speak with him. She
wasn't sure how long the struggle occurred or if the pair fell to the
ground. She said that neither the officer nor Armstrong used weapons.

Asked if the officer was injured, Lopez said: "I don't think so."

A resident near the scene where the altercation took place said she
heard a man yell "Help me, please help me," about the time of the
incident. She asked not to be identified because she said her family
are illegal immigrants.

Neighbors of Syrita Henderson, Thomas Armstrong's girlfriend, who
lives a block from the scene of the incident, described Armstrong as
"a good man" who drank occasionally but did not abuse drugs.

"He is sweet and sensitive. He never carried any weapons. He was
happy as can be," said Penny Lujan, who said that Thomas had been
over earlier to borrow the movie Land of the Dead.

Henderson, who cried as she waited for news of her boyfriend's
condition at University Hospital, said tests that police said
revealed Thomas had cocaine in his system were false.

"They lied to us," she wailed.

Lopez said that Armstrong's family and other supporters were not
considering "an individual being held responsible for his own
actions, such as illegal use of extreme narcotics . . . and what we
all know they can do to a person's rational actions and thinking."

Denver CopWatch, a community group that monitors potential abuse
cases, is calling for an independent investigation of the incident
and for the immediate suspension of the officers involved pending the
outcome of the investigation.

"After reviewing photographs provided by the Armstrong family of the
injuries sustained by T.C. Armstrong, Denver CopWatch believes that
this is a case of excessive force," said a statement from the police
watchdog group.

Armstrong's family urged community members "to support their call for
justice and answers" by joining them at a 6 p.m. protest today
outside the District 2 Police Station in northeast Denver, according
to a Denver CopWatch statement.

Police released documents Sunday showing that Armstrong had a 19-year
criminal record with at least 20 convictions, including disturbing
the peace, a weapons violation, interfering with police and marijuana
possession. He is in custody at the hospital for investigation of
assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.

Earl Armstrong said that Thomas drank alcohol and smoked marijuana
occasionally. He said his brother had gotten into a fight with his
girlfriend and had left her home shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.

Lopez said the officer who encountered Armstrong was headed to an
unrelated alarm call when he happened upon Thomas Armstrong behaving
"very suspicious."

She wouldn't describe the behavior, but said the officer would not
have acted without reasonable suspicion that the man was possibly
engaged in criminal activity.

"It's more than likely that these officers did not even know who this
person was," said Lopez, referring to the first officer who clashed
with Armstrong and a second officer who arrived after the fracas began.

She would not identify either officer, who both remain on duty
because she said no evidence of wrongdoing has been raised in the
initial probe.

"For anyone to say that they knew they were going to meet up with
this person on this date, at this time, in this intersection to
retaliate is just ludicrous," Lopez said.