© Volusia Sheriff's OfficeXavier Javern Cummings, 33, came into possession of a Cocoa Police Department vehicle and headed onto I-95.
A Florida man who came into possession of a police cruiser was run off the road by pursuing officers, then managed to keep the pursuit alive by stealing a second cruiser that had come to assist in the arrest.
The wild ride played out in Thursday afternoon in Volusia County, where police say Xavier Javern Cummings, 33, came into possession of a Cocoa Police Department vehicle and headed onto I-95. Officers responding to the theft of that vehicle gave chase, running Cummings off the interstate and into a wooded area.
When officers converged on that crashed vehicle, Cummings allegedly ditched the first police vehicle he had stolen and commandeered a second cop car. Video posted to the Voluscia County Sheriff's Office includes audio of the second leg of Thursday's chase that indicated the situation was even more dangerous that it appeared.
"Are there guns in the front of the car?" one officer asks over an open radio.
"Yes, there probably is," another voice says.
Spikes laid down on the interstate seemed to effectively slow the stolen vehicle, which rolled along, leaving a stream of smoke.
"Be advised that's a SWAT officer's vehicle," one law enforcement officer is heard saying.
Police took no chances once the second stolen police SUV swerved off the roadway and onto a grassy median. More than a half-dozen police vehicles carrying at least a dozen officers and a canine unit converged on Cummings as a helicopter hovered overhead. No one was injured, according to reports.
Cummings faces charges including armed burglary of a conveyance, attempting to elude law enforcement, firearm possession by a convicted felon, grand theft of a firearm and a motor vehicle, and driving while license suspended.
Volusia County is in the east-central part of the state and includes Daytona Beach.