The Daytona Beach Police Department has shared body cam showing 18-year-old Jayden Brown, of Palm Coast, Florida, in a chaotic confrontation with officers after he allegedly attempted to take vehicles from a BMW dealership, and then tried to steal a responding officer’s truck.
According to Daytona police, it happened the evening of January 14, 2026, at a BMW dealership on Tomoka Farms Road. Police say Brown arrived at the car dealership with his girlfriend and a friend, without adequate finances or credit to purchase vehicles. Charging documents viewed by Law & Crime say he argued with dealership staff and then left.
But Brown later returned, and this time, the situation escalated to the attempted thefts of several vehicles, including a BMW X7, typically costing six figures, which police say he sat in and tried to start.
The attempted cop SUV theft
Dealership staff called the police, and the Daytona PD later shared the body cam footage. In it, Brown is seen running around the back of a police SUV moments after an officer arrives, then opening the driver’s side door. An officer tases Brown when he refuses commands to stop.
The clip then shows Brown handcuffed on the ground and visibly agitated as officers process him. He repeatedly speaks into the camera, at times making incoherent claims, including, “It’s alright, I’ll be out by tomorrow, it’s all good. I get thousands of guns from who I know in the military a month. I didn’t steal anything yet; I was just trying to find out where my car was.”
Brown’s girlfriend: He “had not slept for days”
Brown’s girlfriend and his friend with him later told investigators they were unaware of his alleged intentions before the incident. The girlfriend reportedly said Brown “had not slept for several days” and was not “in the right state of mind,” frequently saying he was going to become rich and buy multiple BMWs, behavior she described as out of the ordinary.
Following his arrest, Brown was taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation before being brought to police headquarters. During transport, officers say he attempted to tamper with the police camera, and later, after processing, allegedly damaged the holding cell’s security camera by kicking it.
Brown has been charged with three counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary of an occupied dwelling, and criminal mischief stemming from the dealership incident, according to law enforcement and court records.
Brown made his first court appearance the day after the arrest and is scheduled to return for an arraignment on February 10, 2026. While he was initially taken into custody and charged, records indicate he is no longer being held in the Volusia County jail pending that hearing.
