Joel Llinas #

Introduction #

Joel Llinas is a former Daytona Beach police officer whose firing in August 2026 closed out one of the most widely viewed policing controversies in Florida that year. Llinas, who had less than three years of full-time service with the department, was terminated after an internal affairs investigation found he violated multiple department policies related to his conduct and use of force. The case turned on cellphone video that surfaced in March 2026 and appeared to show Llinas striking a man who was already in handcuffs during an arrest that began as an open-container stop; the man, David Anderson, saw his charges — including battery on a law enforcement officer — later dropped by prosecutors.

Background Information #

Llinas served as an officer with the Daytona Beach Police Department in Volusia County, Florida, accumulating less than three years of full-time service with the department at the time of the March 2026 incident. His short career already contained warning signs: department records showed he had been reprimanded and served a one-day suspension in November 2025 following an earlier citizen complaint involving force. Department records also showed that during an earlier response he placed the barrel of his gun against a man who was not posing a threat — an infraction for which he received a written reprimand. He had also received de-escalation training intended to help officers manage encounters through communication, sound decision-making and appropriate tactical options.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. The claims about the arrest itself come from cellphone and body-camera video, police reports, and a departmental internal affairs investigation, which reported substantiating policy violations. No criminal charge was reported against Llinas, and the findings against him are administrative, not judicial. Llinas has not publicly admitted wrongdoing; his union claims Anderson’s own resistance caused the confrontation to escalate and says he was grabbed and possibly bitten during the arrest.

The encounter began around midnight in March 2026, when Llinas approached 27-year-old David Anderson of Tennessee, who police said was holding an open bottle of alcohol. Llinas told the man to either pour the bottle out or be taken to jail; according to Llinas, while he was pouring it, Anderson threw the bottle’s cork at him. As Llinas moved to arrest him on a battery charge that was later dropped, body camera video captured Anderson being tackled, tasered, and repeatedly punched in the head while in handcuffs. Cellphone video of the arrest surfaced in March and appeared to show Llinas striking Anderson, who was already in handcuffs; Eyewitness News first reported on the video, and the clip spread widely enough that Daytona Beach’s mayor described it as “troubling.”

Days after the cellphone video surfaced, police released more than an hour of body camera footage from three officers. The footage showed Llinas asking Anderson to pour out a bottle of alcohol, Anderson telling the officer to do it himself, and Anderson throwing the cork toward the officer before being taken to the ground and handcuffed as the confrontation continued. Police said Llinas encountered resistance while attempting to secure Anderson. Anderson was arrested on charges that included battery on a law enforcement officer. At the time, Police Chief Jakari Young described what he saw as concerning, and Llinas was removed from regular duties while the internal investigation was underway.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Allegations. The account of the arrest above is contested, and no criminal charge was brought against Llinas. The consequences below rest on the department’s internal findings and the union’s public rebuttal to them.

In April 2026, state prosecutors declined to file charges against Llinas. Anderson’s own charges, including battery on a law enforcement officer, were later dropped by prosecutors. On August 18, 2026, the department announced it had terminated Llinas after the investigation determined he violated multiple policies related to his conduct and use of force — his second use-of-force incident in a “relatively short time,” according to police. Chief Young said in a statement that “how an officer responds in difficult situations requires sound judgment and emotional control,” and that after reviewing the totality of the circumstances, he determined Llinas’ judgment and emotional control “did not meet the standards expected of a Daytona Beach Police Officer.”

The department also acknowledged the challenges officers face, with Young recognizing “the more than 200 men and women who serve as police officers with this department.” The Coastal Florida Police Benevolent Association sharply disagreed, calling the outcome “absurd,” arguing the incident was “the fault of the suspect, not the officer,” and accusing city leaders of yielding to political pressure and deciding Llinas’ fate before the internal investigation was completed. The union said it will challenge the termination through arbitration and seek Llinas’ reinstatement.

Current Status #

Llinas was fired from the Daytona Beach Police Department effective with the termination announced August 18, 2026. The Coastal Florida PBA has said it will pursue arbitration to challenge the firing and seek his reinstatement, so the final chapter of his employment dispute remained unresolved as of the latest reporting. No criminal case against Llinas exists: prosecutors declined to file charges against him in April 2026, and the department’s findings — violations of multiple policies related to conduct and use of force — are administrative in nature. Anderson, the man in the video, no longer faces the charges from the arrest, which prosecutors dropped.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The firing ended Llinas’ policing career in Daytona Beach after less than three years of full-time service, a tenure bookended by force-related discipline: a written reprimand and one-day suspension in November 2025 over an earlier citizen complaint, and termination in August 2026 over the Anderson arrest. Chief Young’s statement tied the dismissal directly to Llinas’ perceived deficits in “judgment and emotional control,” despite his having already received de-escalation training. The PBA’s arbitration fight could yet restore his position, but publicly the case has become a reference point in debates over police accountability, with the union portraying him as a “hardworking cop who proudly served our country in the military” and the department framing the termination as proof of its commitment to holding officers accountable.