VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office released body camera video from multiple deputies who took part in the arrest of a man accused of stealing two Cocoa police cruisers.
A word of warning, some viewers may find the language in the body camera video to be graphic.
Xavier Cummings, 33, was arrested Thursday along Interstate 95 near Daytona Beach following two chases spanning parts of Brevard and Volusia Counties.
According to an arrest report from the sheriff’s office, deputies were alerted to a chase involving a stolen Cocoa Police Department vehicle around 4:20 p.m. The cruiser was entering Volusia County, heading north on I-95 in Oak Hill.
[TRENDING: Track uncertain path of rocket falling to Earth | Video: Man steals 2 police cruisers | Mom who gave birth on flight didn’t know she was pregnant]
Deputies said they managed to flatten some of the tires on the cruiser. A Cocoa officer involved in the chase managed to push the stolen cruiser off the road into a tree line and an Edgewater officer pinned the stolen vehicle in so that it could not leave, records show.
This is the point where the body camera video picks up the action.
Deputies and officers draw their weapons and at least one police dog is seen in the video with its handler. In the video, Cummings is ordered out of the vehicle. According to the report, the man armed himself with pepper spray and exited the vehicle.
Deputies and officers can be heard in the video calling for the dog to be released. Deputies said Cummings managed to make it into another Cocoa police vehicle, which was left unlocked and had the keys in the ignition. Records show another Cocoa officer tried to deploy his Taser, but only one probe hit Cummings and it was not effective in preventing him from driving off in the second cruiser.
After the second stolen cruiser drives off, deputies and officers can be heard expressing their disbelief at the situation.
“Are you (expletive) kidding me,” one deputy is heard saying.
The video shows deputies driving after the stolen cruiser, heading north on I-95. According to the release a Volusia sergeant and a Port Orange officer were able to blow out three of the tires on the second stolen cruiser. The body camera video shows this part of the chase.
Shortly after the tires are deflated, the stolen cruiser slows and comes to a stop in the median. Offices and deputies swarm around the vehicle, but the video does not show Cummings being pulled out. Cummings can be seen on the ground shouting at officers.
“I’m FBI. I’m CIA, I’m Secret Service agency,” Cummings said.
As Cummings is searched for weapons, he continues to ramble, often incoherently. He namechecks several government agencies, including the Department of Transportation, and former professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Investigators said Cummings could have accessed two guns stored inside the stolen cruiser — a shotgun and an AR-15 rifle.
Ultimately, no one was hurt in the chase and deputies said Cummings confessed to stealing both vehicles.
He faces multiple charges including armed burglary, prisoner escape, fleeing/attempting to elude, grand theft and 2 counts of possession of a weapon by a felon.