An alleged drunk driver plowed his car through a gate at a Florida airport on Wednesday and briefly boarded a plane before being detained.
Body camera video released by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office showed deputies speaking with the man, identified as Bryan J. Parker, at the Daytona Beach International Airport.
“What’s the deal man?” the deputy asked.
“I don’t remember,” Parker replied, handcuffed and seated on the ground.
In the video, Parker told the deputies that he had been at home before attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He also admitted to drinking alcohol and using drugs prior to the incident.
“I crashed my car,” he said.
The sheriff’s office said in a post on X that it was notified around 4:23 p.m. Wednesday that a blue Ford Mustang had crashed through a locked gate at the airport.
Airport personnel said the car drove toward the Embry-Riddle section of the airport, the sheriff’s office said. Witnesses said the car entered the taxiway and nearly struck a plane that was taxiing.
The airport said in a statement that Parker drove onto the secondary runway, not the main runway. Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University said it was aware of the incident and its safety officers “responded immediately.”
According to the sheriff’s office, Parker got out of his car and tried to enter an occupied plane but was unsuccessful. He then allegedly approached two other unoccupied airplanes and briefly got inside.
“As Parker ran to other aircraft in the area, an airport operations technician chased him down, pulled him out of a plane and sat him on his truck’s tailgate,” the sheriff’s office said. “However, Parker jumped off the tailgate and ran toward another plane before he was once again apprehended and placed in handcuffs.”
Airport operations were not affected by the incident, the airport said.
Parker, 58, of Holly Hill, was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of attempted aircraft piracy, burglary of a conveyance, felony trespass, indecent exposure, criminal mischief, DUI with damage, and refusal to submit to DUI testing.