Both sides agree that police Tased 17-year-old Shymere Armstrong last weekend.
Why they did so is what’s disputed.
According to a police report, a fight spilled out of Coo’s Sports Bar & Lounge near Broad and Parrish streets early on Nov. 7. Owner Tom Fario confirmed “10 to 15” police cruisers responded to a call that a female patron was asked to leave, but refused.
That’s when the car in which Shymere Armstrong was a passenger got blocked in on Parrish Street. He says he walked across Broad Street to the BP Gas Station market for a ginger ale.
“The cops got somebody on the ground outside and I looked down at the guy,” recounted the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Prep Academy Charter High School senior.
“A cop said, ‘You want some of this?’ I said ‘no officer.’ He grabbed my shoulder. I was blocking myself and they threw me to the ground, Tased me in the shoulder and back. All my muscles all froze. I peed myself. I heard someone say, ‘Tase him again,’ and someone did.”
Five days later, marks from the Tasing were still visible on his back. In the report, though, Officer Christopher Simone notes Armstrong was “throwing punches” and “failed to disperse despite numerous requests to leave and resisted arrest requiring police to use force.”
Armstrong has a Family Court hearing Nov. 24.
