‘He Wasn’t Being Aggressive with Them’: Indiana Cops Caught on Video Brutally Beating Black Man After Confronting Him for Parking In Walmart Fire Lane
Indiana police claim they repeatedly punched, kicked and tasered a 38-year-old Black man in a Walmart parking lot on Tuesday because he had attacked them first.
But police in the Indianapolis suburb of Lawrence still have not released body camera footage supporting that claim.
As of now, the only videos that have surfaced were recorded by witnesses showing police officers repeatedly punching William Jerome Armstrong as his sister screams in shock. And one of the witnesses who recorded the beating accused the Lawrence Police Department of lying about what had taken place.
“The way the police lie to cover they as– is crazy!” wrote Brittney Glass on Facebook while sharing a local media article Thursday about the incident.
Two days earlier while posting the videos of the incident to her Facebook page only hours after the incident, she wrote that “this man was wrongfully beat up by the police at the far eastside Walmart in Indianapolis, IN.”
“He wasn’t being aggressive with them, they took it upon themselves to add extra force to bring him down. Somebody tag the Indy news or something.”
Armstrong was charged with two counts of battery against a public safety official, two counts of resisting law enforcement and one count of intimidation, according to WISH-TV.
But his family says he was the one who was battered and abused. Watch the video below.
The Beating
It all started Tuesday afternoon after Armstrong pulled up to a Walmart to pick up his 16-year-old sister, parking in the fire lane in front of the store, which is a non-moving violation usually punishable by a fine.
According to court records obtained by WRIC-TV, a Lawrence police officer spotted Armstrong parked in the fire lane in a white Ford Explorer so he pulled up behind him in the same fire lane to issue him a citation.
But police claim that Armstrong “immediately” and “aggressively” approached the cop’s car with his hands balled into a fist, demanding to know if the officer “had a problem.”
The cop said he warned Armstrong not to “run up on” police but that just further infuriated Armstrong where he became “hostile” and “argumentative” and told the cop to “f_ck off.”
The cop said he contacted dispatch to send backup because he began fearing for his safety.
But when the other officers arrived and ordered Armstrong to place his hands behind his back to be handcuffed in order to “maintain officer safety,” they claim he “snatched” his hands away from them and began “fighting and resisting.”
The report goes on to say that Armstrong punched two cops in the face and used a “hip toss” to throw an officer on the ground.
But none of that was captured in the videos that have been posted online.
Police also said they found an AR-15 rifle in the backseat of his car which is permissible in Indiana as long as the person does not have a felony conviction.
Family Response
Armstrong’s little sister, Anayzja Mason, said in a Facebook thread showing the video that she had walked out of the Walmart to meet her brother, only to find him arguing with police.
She said her brother had parked in the fire lane because it was very cold that day and his phone had been turned off. Other commenters on various threads showing the video say it is not uncommon for people to park in the fire lane to load up on merchandise in that particular Walmart, especially during cold weather and it was about 15 degrees that day.
She said her brother was trying to explain to the cop that his sister had already walked out and to just let them be on their way, but the cop became angry when Armstrong cursed at him, responding by punching him in the face, which is what led to the violent confrontation.
“This my older brother. He was waiting on me (I’m a minor) in the fire zone explaining that I was coming out and when I came out I asked him what was going on and he was talking to me and the Black cop punched him in the face for cussing towards him and then this started happening.”
Armstrong’s mother, Shanee Mason, told local media that there was no justification for how the cops beat her son.
“There is no law. There is nothing that can tell me that was justified,” Mason told WISH-TV.
“They actually beat him for a while before they put him in handcuffs. After getting him in the handcuffs, then they’re beating him again on the video, just kicking him, hitting him with their fists and tasering him.”
Lawrence police released a statement to the media, telling the public to have patience “while all relevant evidence, including body-word camera footage, witness statements, and officer reports, is thoroughly examined.”
“Transparency and accountability are fundamental to maintaining the trust of the community we serve,” said Lawrence Police Chief Curtis Bigsbee in the statement.
“We are committed to a fair and objective review of this incident, and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings.”
However, police have so far ignored requests from local media to obtain the body camera videos.
In 2021, a white man from Lawrence, Indiana, was sentenced to prison for trying to intimidate a Black neighbor with a burning cross and swastika.