Bunnell Brawl Involving Up to 60 People Ends with 6 Arrests as Even Corrections Deputies Are Summoned to Help

A late-night brawl involving 40 to 50 people–and up to 60, according one sheriff’s report–on South Anderson Street in Bunnell Saturday ended with the arrest of six people, including one, Andrea Armster, 41, on a felony charge of battering a law enforcement officer.  The incident involved so many people, and so many law enforcement officers, that detention deputies from the jail had to assist.

Three other adults, a 21-year-old woman, a 42-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man, were arrested on misdemeanor charges of brawling-disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. All four are residents of Hymon Circle. Two juveniles were also arrested.




Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies and Bunnell police were called to the 300 block of South Anderson Street nearing midnight on Saturday after reports of a disturbance in the area. A deputy arriving on scene described two other deputies trying to secure an individual while being “surrounded and rushed by a large group of individuals,”  while another deputy was trying to secure someone else.

The deputy estimated the crowd at 50 to 60 people, “verbally and physically aggressive with one another and towards deputies.” Altercations were breaking out in different spots, with some individuals yelling at deputies as they attempted to secure people and take them to patrol cars.

A summary of the incident released by Bunnell Police Chief Dave Brannon states that law enforcement had responded to a caller ” stating there was about to be a fight at 303 S Anderson St.,” including a woman who was “in the middle of S Anderson St yelling and threatening a group of people at 305 S. Anderson.” The woman was identified as Armster.

Armster, who has accumulated 32 felony and misdemeanor charges over time, and has one felony conviction, was among them. She was yelling at some of the brawlers even as she was near the deputies, allegedly pushing one of the deputies. Deputies ordered her to get away from the scene. She did not. “She still began to yell at deputies and then further go back and engage in the verbal conflict, further escalating the situation,” the deputy reported.




“While securing another subject Andrea then approached me again and began to yell at me.” She had been drinking, the deputy reported, and since she was judged to be on a public road, the deputy deemed it public intoxication.

The summary released by Branon states: “As Sgt. Tripp took [Armster] to his patrol vehicle, several other subjects (1 male and 4 females) ran towards the group of people at 305 S Anderson St yelling and then started to attack them. Deputies quickly intervened and these subjects continued to struggle and fight with FCSO Deputes. Deputies were able to take them into custody and secure them in patrol vehicles. The [Flagler County Sheriff’s Office] jail van was dispatched to the scene to transport all 6 arrestees (1 adult male, 3 adult females and 2 JUV females).”

“There were still 50-60 individuals engaged in verbal altercations which began to deescalate as more law enforcement units arrived on the scene,” the report states. Armster, who remained “verbally aggressive,” required two deputies to take her to a patrol car. She was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, a third-degree felony, disorderly conduct and disorderly intoxication. It isn’t clear what the occasion was for the large gathering.

Brannon said the department had learned from sources on the street that the original gathering had been “for some sort of seafood boil/party.”

Speaking of the incident on WNZF’s Free For All Fridays on March 22, Brannon added the following details of those involved: “They were neighbors. There were folks that were in town visiting. Folks for drinking. That got the best of them and they started pushing each other around, bumping into each other and knocking things over. There was a apparently a crab boil going on and the party that wasn’t I guess winning the argument decided to tip the pot over and put all the food on the ground. I know that would upset me too. But I don’t know that I’d go fighting with police officers over it. But that’s what I understand was the underlying reason. At least that’s the reason we’re being told. One of the challenges we find in our South Bunnell area is when law enforcement shows up, the community shuts up and they don’t want to share information. So if there was another real cause for all that to happen, no one really shared it with us.”