by Wilbur Streett

I found a Dead Beat Dad that was literally "beat dead" and no one cares.

Dads have been suffering abuse over this "Deadbeat Dad" myth for quite a while. It was quite clear to me back in 1975 when the Senior Citizen's were outraged at how much money was being spent on Welfare that the answer from the Welfare Department that it was those "Deadbeat Dads" was just a lie, since they only gave Welfare to a house where there was no man in house. Welfare spending has steadily increased, as has the propaganda campaign and hate crimes against Dads.

When I was subject to a false arrest and imprisonment, with no law supporting it, I figured that it would take a Dad being killed over this to put an end to it. I guess I was nieve.

This man that was beaten dead lived in the "Live Free or Die" state, in Milford, NH. (Check out their quarters). Also check out how the NH Supreme Court was torn up over a divorce of one of their own. While I was talking to Bob Cheney, another man unlawfully jailed over child support, (another monster story), I mentioned to him that it would take someone dying, and he mentioned that Paul Clements had told him about just such a man.

His name is Brian Armstrong.

I've spoken with his mother several times, and Evenlyn Armstrong explained to me how Brian loved his son. She explained how his drinking problem got much worse after his divorce from being unable to see his child, and how he still loved his wife, despite the divorce. He was working at McDonald's and Burger King, just trying to do something.

He used to sit on the back porch and drink to try to kill the pain. He had applied for help in various alcholism programs, but the Armstrong's didn't have the $1,000 a week to keep him in the sort of program that he needed, and there wasn't any other program, and he had already tried AA and it wasn't working.

Brian Armstrong's sister got a call from a child support officer that Brian should appear in court. (That's not legal process).

On Tuesday, January 11th of 2000, Brian Armstrong was arrested with no warrent, no paperwork, and put him into the Milford, NH Valley Street jail. (They probably make $125/day off keeping him there, it's the going rate..) The Sheriff claimed that if the parents coughed up $4,000 that they wouldn't arrest him. (Ever heard of debtors' prison?).

Brian was working at McDonald's and Burger King at the time, having a hard time even keeping those jobs because of his alcohohol problem, but they claimed that he could pay $4,000?

We have an Appealate Court decision in New Jersey, Weinstein v. Weinstein that specifically declares that putting a man in jail on a release amount that you have not shown that he can pay is debtor's prison. Debtor's prison was outlawed more than 200 years ago by President Adams, and was one of the primary reasons that people left England and came to the "Land of the Free". The man that funded our revolution, William Morris, spent 3 years in debtor's prison on Spruce Street just down the road from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, because rather than paying him back we gave him back swamp land and taxed him on it.

At least he survived the debtor's prison.

On the following Friday morning Brian Armstrong's parents got a call from the prison to come and get him, and the bail was suddenly reduced to $2,000, then $1,000. When the nurses helped Brian walk out of the prison, they told his parents to take him directly to the hospital, that he would not survive if they took him home.

When he got to the Hospital, the Hospital immediatly called the police, because they knew that he had been beaten and that he was going to die.

Evelynn described the injuries on Brian's body to me. Big bruise on the back of his head, a concussion, and bruises all over the front of his body.

The same week, an INS detainee (a man) died in the same prison. It was such a big story that Janet Reno personally got involved. It lead to all INS detainees being no longer held in that prison, and several changes all over the country with INS detainees. But they eventually declared this INS detainee's death due to "natural causes". That same week an INS detainee was raped at the Valley Street jail, (a woman), they are however actively prosecuting that.

Brian Armstrong died on Tuesday, January 18th, 2000.

A few months after Brian Armstrong's death, I spoke to his ex-wife, and she confirmed what I had heard about Brian's death. She also told me that despite Brian's son, Matthias, having gone to the funeral, that he was still asking "Where's Daddy?", and it was tearing her apart.

It was even worse for her since she had lost her father when she was a child also. Evelynn Armstrong told mehow Matthias refuses to play baseball anymore, since that was the primary thing that he used to do with daddy.

There was an investigation, so I thought that something would happen, and let the story go.

Just before Christmas I realized that Matthias was going to be going through Christmas for the first time without his father. I had done the same myself, when I was 7, my father was gone during the Vietnam War. I was lucky, my father came back. I knew a little how his Christmas must have been, since it was one of the saddest days in my life, and I knew that my father would probably be coming back, since he was in a bunker in Korea running a computer system, not in Vietnam dying like the fathers of the other kids in the neighborhood.

But how many children today go to sleep at night without their father in the house in order to foster the practice of law in family court and the interests of the Welfare Department?

But there was nothing happening in the investigation of the death of Brian Armstrong.

I had just replaced my daughter's computer with a faster one, because she wanted to play Sims, and I thought that maybe I could give Matthias that computer. I thought it might give him something to do other than miss his father.

I called up Evelynn, and she told me that would be a good idea. I made arrangements, including setting up an ISP for Brian, and made plans to drive up and install it. I asked my daughter if she wanted to go with me, and she said yes.

In discussing Father's Day 2001 with Stuart Miller, I mentioned the Brian Armstrong story, and he mentioned that he had just spoken to a man that witnessed the beating death of Brian Armstrong. That he was in the jail at the same time. I emailed him, and then talked with him, and he described what he saw.

He had been in prison for refusing to pay the college tuition for the children that he hasn't seen in years. (Strangely enough, they went to Columbine High School.)

Bob Burke described how the man that he saw assaulted was thrown backwards onto the back of his head, and lay on the floor on his back, unmoving and apparently unconcious, while the guards ran in and beat on him.

What Bob described as what he saw, matches exactly what Evelynn told me the injuries were that she saw when she took Brian to the hospital. I knew that he wasn't making it up.

I decided to rent a broadcast quality camera and tape Bob testifying as to what he saw. It turns out that Bob also was a few doors down from the cell where the INS detainee died, and he doesn't think that it was "natural causes".

I drove up with my daughter and installed the computer for Matthias. His mother refused to be interviewed, but Evelynn and Harold, Brian's father, agreed to be interviewed, and Bob Burke came over and we interviewed them all on tape. During the interview with Evelynn and Harold, we discovered that they had a copy of the Autopsy, which they were too distressed to even read.

My daughter read the autopsy and found that the corner had made some significant statements:

CONCLUSION:

It is my opinion that Brian Armstrong, a 41 year old white male, died as a result of blunt impact injury of the head sustained when he was pushed backwards, fell and struck the back of his head on a firm, unyielding surface.

CAUSE OF DEATH:

Blunt impact injury of head with cerebrial contusions, constusional hematomas, cerebral edema and herniation.

MANNER OF DEATH:

Homicide.

This report was done on 3/6/2000. We just saw it in February of 2001. I asked Evenlyn and Harold if anyone had ever contacted them. They told me that no one from the authorities ever contacted them. But one local cop came up and said "I'm sorry" to Evelynn. I asked about any investigation, and she said that she didn't know of any investigation.

Then we interviewed Bob Burke, and he described what he had seen. He also described how he had called up the State AG and the Federal US Attorney responsible for investigating the death, and that no one called ever him back. Bob hasn't moved for years. It's quite clear that there is no investigation. They didn't attempt to contact anyone that was in the prison at the time. The other man that stepped forward and said that he saw Brian Armstrong get attached, was transfered to another prison, and was beaten to death at that prison. Bob might have gotten another investigation started back up again, but nothing is really happening.

I have the Autopsy, if you want to see it.

http://thefaceof.com/fathers/Brian_Armstrong-Autopsy.pdf (NOTE from Linda: This site has disappeared from the internet. I'm trying to find and post it here.)

I also have the video tapes. Give me an address and I'll send them to you. (NOTE from Linda: I don't know how the ball got dropped here, but I never received the tapes. As with the autopsy, I am seeking the tapes, also.)

Or is it OK for a dad to be beat dead? I doubt Matthias thinks so, I certainly don't.

But they've been getting away with murder for quite a while. Check out the suicide rates of Dads that go through divorce, or their sons.

I am attempting to locate more information on both Brian Armstrong and Wilbur Streett, as Wilbur also died in jail as a result of child custody problems. Please click the "Wilbur Streett" link on the Home Page's Site Menu to read more about this brave dad.

If you are a member of the family or a friend of Mr. Streett, Mr. Armstrong, or any other non-custodial parent who has died behind bars due to child support arrearages, and if you have additional information, photos, etc. that you can share with the world, please contact me at the e-mail link, or, click here and leave a message for Ned.

FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL

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Duda's award-winning film unflinchingly documents the whole story the U.S. government and the state of Arkansas have tried to keep hidden from the world.

Click the photo of Kelly Duda at work to order your own copy of
"Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal"

Click the photo of Kelly Duda at work to visit the
Factor 8 Documentary website

Please help spread the word about this important film,
along with the urls to the linked pages.

This PRUP (Prison Reform Unity Project) site owned by

Linda Tant Miller
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