Flagler Beach Police Sergeant Suspended 3 Days for Arrest of First Amendment Auditor

A Flagler Beach police sergeant has been suspended three days without pay for the wrongful arrest of Jeffrey Gray in March 2025, the Flagler Beach Police Department announced Friday. Austin Yelvington was investigated along with one other officer by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office after they took Gray into custody under questionable circumstances. What Happened in the Incident? On March 2nd, Gray was seen standing outside the Funky Pelican restaurant adjacent to the Flagler Beach pier, holding a sign that read ‘God Bless the Homeless Vets’. Employees of the Funky Pelican were said to have asked him to move somewhere else after he remained there for some time, but Gray refused. He appeared to be standing only on the public sidewalk, which is within his rights. Funky Pelican employees contacted the Flagler Beach Police Department about Gray. They requested for him to be trespassed saying he was “harassing all of our guests”. When questioned by police, he refused to move or to provide identification; both stances are legally justified since police did not have reasonable suspicion that he was committing a crime. All of his actions appeared to be legal, including his possession of a firearm at the time. Still, he was arrested and charged with armed trespassing. “Let me guess: you’re gonna sue me, take me to court, have me arrested, have me fired, the whole nine yards, ain’t you?” Yelvington could be heard asking Gray in the bodycam footage from the arrest. His sarcastic prediction turned out a bit closer to reality than he had likely imagined. Internal Affairs Investigation An independent internal affairs investigation was requested by Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney following the publication of the incident. It wrapped up on July 9th. Yelvington was found to have committed two violations in the course of the arrest, while Officer Emmett Luttrell was cleared of wrongdoing. The results were delivered to Doughney by FCSO Chief Mark Strobridge, while the investigation itself was carried out by FCSO Commander George Bender. The results and recommendations were passed on, and Doughney found himself in agreement. Yelvington will soon serve a three-day suspension without pay. He’ll also be mandated to complete a verbal de-escalation training course from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). “The investigation revealed that Mr. Gray’s arrest was made without ‘Probable Cause’, but it was also stated that it was made with ‘no personal bias or malice’,” Doughney said. “The investigation also identified a significant weakness in our Department’s ‘Field Training” of new Police Officers, and that deficiency was at the core of this incident. The training deficiency has been corrected thanks to detailed information provided by our City Attorney on trespassing and the freedom of speech on public property”. The Police and Constitutional Rights Gray is no stranger to such confrontations. He operates a YouTube channel called ‘HonorYourOath Civil Rights Investigations’, in which he documents encounters with law enforcement in which individual rights are allegedly violated. He later posted a video showing what happened at the Funky Pelican from his perspective, which has amassed 244,000 views as of Friday. “On behalf of the Flagler Beach Police Department I’d like to issue a public apology to Mr. Gray,” Doughney continued. “I cannot go back and change the events that occurred on March 2nd, but since that date we as a department have capitalized on educational opportunities with regards to First Amendment Rights. We will continue to explore additional training opportunities in the future, so that we can continue the education of our Police Officers on First Amendment rights, so that we can protect the public, their rights and civil liberties moving forward”.