- April 28, 2024
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The 7-Eleven employee who tackled a man who brandished a plastic, toy gun during the early morning hours of a June 22 scuffle was fired just three days after the incident.
Eddie Vaught was fired from the convenience store in Flagler Beach on Friday.
Christopher Munson, who remained in the Flagler County Inmate Facility Monday morning on $2,000 bond for battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, walked into the Flagler Beach convenience store the during the early morning hours of June 22.
The incident began when Munson came into the store and was acting suspiciously, Vaught told deputies the day of the incident.
Vaught said Monday that on the night of the incident, Munson wanted to take some gift cards with him in addition to the items he was already purchasing.
Vaught said he told Munson the gift cards can’t be activated at home, and so he took them from Munson.
About two hours later, Munson came back to the store. Vaught told deputies that Munson “appeared to be upset with what took place earlier,” a charging affidavit states.
When told to leave the store, Munson refused, so Vaught threatened to call the police.
When Munson still didn’t leave, Vaught went behind the store’s counter to call 911, but Munson yanked the phone away, and the two men began to fight.
Munson broke out from Vaught’s hold and brandished a plastic, toy gun.
Eventually, Vaught tackled Munson through the front doors of the store and held him down until police arrived.
Munson wasn’t originally arrested, but after authorities viewed the video surveillance, they placed him under arrest, Vaught said.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s inmate search, Munson has been arrested five previous times for various charges, including battery, assault, possession of marijuana, and fleeing and eluding a police officer.
Vaught, 27, is now out of work. He was working at the 7-Eleven 40 hours a week to eventually pay his way through school at Daytona State College with the hopes of eventually becoming a math teacher. He said he is a few classes short of his associate’s degree.
Vaught said he met with a district manager and a field consultant, who told him he was terminated because he didn’t do enough to “quell” the situation.
“If I had stood down, then the situation might not have escalated further,” Vaught said of the termination reasoning. “They felt I put myself and my fellow coworker in danger.”
Vaught said he was told that he should have attempted to calm Munson down instead of tackling him.
"After carefully reviewing the video and considering all aspects of this incident, 7-Eleven Inc. concluded a dismissal was in order because the employee’s action violated our policy of non-confrontation and posed a danger to himself and a co-worker," said Margaret Chabris, director of corporate communications, in an email. "Our top concern is for the safety and well-being of store employees and customers."
Vaught, who has worked at the 7-Eleven in Flagler Beach since it opened in December 2011, said he has had customer-related incidents before while working at other convenience stores. While working at a Circle K, Vaught was attacked by a customer and eventually fired.
However, an arbiter ruled Vaught was in the right.
“I feel it’s very difficult because my safety was in question,” said Vaught, who noted he was working the night Zuheily Rosado was killed as she worked at the Mobil gas station on State Road 100, just minutes from his Flagler Beach store. “If there was a robbery, then there is a set amount of policies to just give (the items) away. But (Munson) was in no way, shape or form attempting a robbery. He was coming after me personally, so I thought my personal safety was in question. You start getting nervous.”
