Police Profile: GPD Ofc. Erin Armstrong (#1153)
Officer Erin Lynn Armstrong began working for the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) in October 2019. Since 2022, she has been involved in multiple vehicle crashes, costing thousands of dollars in damage and injuring a man’s hand.
Patrol Car Incident 1:
On August 1, 2022, at 3:25 am, Armstrong was driving on SW 34th St when she fell asleep at the wheel, only awakening when she struck a center median strip and totaled the vehicle, an internal affairs report states.
The incident was classified as a major crash due to the damage being over $15,000.
Armstrong told internal affairs (IA) she didn’t want to interview because she “does not dispute the facts of the crash as it was documented.”
The total vehicle damage was just under $17,000, and it was determined to be totaled because it wasn't cost effective to repair.
Armstrong was found sustained for violating safety rules and carelessness. She received a written warning and a four-week suspension of take-home car privileges, and was required to attend remedial driving training.
The IA report states, “Future violations, similar in nature, will result in progressive discipline up to and including suspension and/or dismissal.”
Armstrong’s following violations have not resulted in dismissal.
Patrol Car Incident 2:
According to an internal investigation, on October 25, 2022, Armstrong took her patrol vehicle to the city fleet shop for maintenance, and staff notified her supervisor of unreported damage.
Fleet employees noted that Armstrong’s vehicle’s driver-side door was falling apart and there was damage to the left side of the trunk lid.
The IA report goes on to state, “There were several inconsistent outward ‘bumps,’ as if an attempt to ‘pull the dent’ was made.”
The IA report describes the vehicle as having “numerous scratch marks and paint that appeared to have been chipped away from an unknown tool.” City Fleet head Paul Stark told IA investigators it was “very obvious someone tried to work this back out with some type of tooling…”
Armstrong said she was first issued the patrol vehicle on September 13, 2022, and the damage must have happened between then and October 25, 2022.
IA investigators reviewed body camera footage and discovered a time frame indicating when the damage occurred. They also discovered Armstrong didn’t activate her body camera during several calls for service where she made contact with civilians.
During her interview with IA, Armstrong confessed that she noticed the damage but didn’t inform a supervisor. She also admitted to trying to pull the dent out herself, saying she wasn’t considering GPD’s policy on personally repairing vehicles.
Armstrong called the damage "cosmetic," saying it wasn't affecting how the car runs. She said she checked the tail light and it "seemed fine," so she "kept working."
Armstrong read what IA investigators described as a “prepared statement.”
"I understand the damage to the car occurred while the car was assigned to me. I don't know how it occurred but understand I should have reported it as soon as I noticed it. I noticed the damage for the first time on an unknown morning in my driveway. Initially I didn't do anything. Once others on shift began to poke fun at the dent, I wanted to fix it. Instead of reporting it, I attempted to fix it. I was not trying to hide that it had occurred but did not want to turn my car into the barn for a cosmetic issue. Our cars take so long to come back. I waited until the car began to have [an] engine and a gas issue to turn over to the barn. I understand this was the wrong course of action and will not do it again.” – Erin Armstrong
When confronted about not turning on her body camera, Armstrong told IA investigators she “should have” for three of the five calls it was turned off. For two of the calls, Armstrong denied knowledge of her body camera being off, reporting the videos were available on evidence.com, a storage site for police evidence, when that was not the case.
Armstrong was found sustained for violating GPD body camera policy and not meeting performance standards. She was suspended for one day without pay and received written instruction and cautioning in the form of an employee notice.
Patrol Car Incident 3:
On December 1, 2023, Armstrong responded to reports from a mother saying her daughter’s Uber was supposed to be taking her to school, but he was instead driving in the opposite direction.
The driver, identified as Carlos, dropped the middle school-aged girl off at an Office Depot, a public place, as opposed to a random house that the Uber map directed him to.
The girl’s mother reported Carlos, leading Armstrong to show up at his house. Carlos explained the situation was simply an error with the Uber map, and Armstrong said he did the right thing by leaving the girl in a public space.
In her report on the incident, Armstrong said, “I informed Carlos that there was no criminal activity reported but that [the girl’s mom] did request this incident to be recorded. I told Carlos this was just an informational report. I asked Carlos for his full name and date of birth. Carlos’ demeanor immediately changed. He became upset with me and hostile. I attempted to deescalate Carlos by explaining thoroughly that I was requesting his information so that I was documenting properly. Carlos refused several times, talking over me, saying that he was not going to give me his information, then asking me several times why I wanted his information. I attempted to explain again why but my efforts failed. I asked Carlos if he would like the case report number for his records or at least for the registered owner's records since I was going to list the vehicle in my report. Carlos denied the case report number but I said I would leave one for the vehicle's owner.”
Later, during her interview with IA, Armstrong admitted Carlos wasn't obligated to give her his information because it was already apparent there was no criminal activity. Armstrong said she "did not realize" Carlos was within his rights to deny her his information.
According to the IA report, “Officer Armstrong goes on to document in her report that when she attempted to leave a report request card with Carlos, he was filming her. The report states that as she attempted to leave, Carlos walked up to her vehicle and asked for her badge number from about five feet away from her driver door. Officer Armstrong wrote as she was slowly backing her vehicle, Carlos walked forcefully up to her open window and tried to place his phone inside..."
The video shows Carlos walking up to Armstrong's car, while the vehicle was parked, in an attempt to get her identification. It doesn't depict him extending his arm in an attempt to record inside or forcefully walking up to the window while she reversed.
The IA report continues, "Officer Armstrong's report states Carlos tapped his hand on her side mirror and dropped his phone to the ground. The report says Carlos began to scream that Officer Armstrong hit him with her vehicle. Officer Armstrong wrote that she exited her vehicle and called for a supervisor. While Carlos was still recording, he asked again why she was writing a report and why she gave him a ticket. According to the report, Officer Armstrong explained again that the blue card (report request card) was directions to request a copy of the report… Officer Armstrong got back in her vehicle and called Sergeant Kerkau. She informed Sergeant Kerkau of the nature of the events, and [he] told Officer Armstrong to leave the area. Officer Armstrong's report states that as she attempted to drive away, Carlos positioned himself in front of her vehicle so that she had to slowly maneuver around him to leave the apartment complex.”
GnvInfo made contact with Carlos, who provided video from when Armstrong started picking up the report request card until she struck him with her vehicle.
Video of Armstrong interacting with Carlos
The video shows Armstrong walking up to Carlos with the blue card, saying, “This is your case report number, and you can contact the GPD Records Department if you’d like a copy.”
Carlos said he didn’t understand why his name was going to be on a report and asked for someone to explain the process to him as Armstrong walked away saying, “Have a good day.”
Carlos asked why Armstrong wrote him a case, and she said, “It’s not a case.”
Carlos approached Armstrong while asking for her name and badge number. Armstrong provided her badge number but reversed and struck Carlos' hand with the driver’s side mirror as he asked for her name.
At the time of the crash, Carlos had screws inside of his right hand due to getting surgery from a prior injury. Following the crash, Carlos lost mobility in his right hand.
First Amendment auditor Blue Steel Audits uploaded footage filmed by Carlos immediately after Armstrong hit him.
Carlos informed Armstrong she just hit him with her car and broke his phone, and she responded, “I did not hit you with the car dude… You simply put your arms on my car.”
After a few moments, Armstrong got out of the car and addressed the case report card. “That is not a ticket; that is a case report number, like I explained to you already,” she said. “All it's documenting is that you picked up a person today in your car.”
Carlos asked why it was important to document, and Armstrong said, “Because the person who called me would like a report on the incident.”
Carlos said it wasn’t necessary because the mother should’ve gotten in contact with Uber instead of the police. Carlos explained that he offered to take the girl to school and talk to her mom, but she didn’t want to get off the phone with her sister to make the call. He said he only left the girl at the Office Depot because it has cameras, and the girl said her mom was going to pick her up there.
Armstrong went back and forth with Carlos for a few more minutes before the video ended.
According to the IA report, Armstrong did not document the crash or the damage to Carlos’ phone.
Armstrong said body camera footage would show Carlos’ phone was damaged prior to the crash, but IA investigators reported they couldn’t determine the state of the phone based on the video. She also admitted that Carlos was not directly in front of the vehicle when she tried to leave.
Armstrong told IA investigators that Carlos recording her made her feel "concerned for her safety" and said her "emotions were heightened."
Additionally, Armstrong listed a different person with the same first and last name as Carlos in her report.
Armstrong was found sustained for "inefficiency in job performance” and given a written warning.
Property Destruction Incident:
According to a GPD Blue Team Action Report, Armstrong was disciplined with verbal counseling for not properly handling an arrestee's property.
On September 8, 2022, Armstrong and three other officers responded to a homeless encampment and arrested a man on a trespassing warrant. While searching his property, officers found a utility knife, which wouldn’t be allowed in the Alachua County Jail. Instead of submitting the utility knife to property and evidence or leaving it at the campsite, Armstrong threw it away.
