Authorities say Bryan J. Parker drove through a locked gate, ran toward several aircraft and was restrained in less than four minutes.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 58-year-old Holly Hill man remained jailed without bond Sunday after authorities said he smashed through a locked gate at Daytona Beach International Airport, drove onto the airfield and tried to get into multiple planes before workers and deputies stopped him.
The case quickly grew beyond a strange airport arrest because prosecutors booked Bryan J. Parker on an attempted aircraft piracy charge, the FBI joined the investigation and local officials moved to reassure the public that the airport stayed secure. No one was injured and no aircraft damage was publicly reported, but the breach raised immediate questions about how close Parker came to active planes and whether the case will stay in state court alone or also bring federal charges.
Authorities said the breach began at about 4:23 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, when Parker drove a blue Ford Mustang at high speed through a locked gate near the international terminal and onto the airfield. Deputies said witnesses saw the car enter a taxiway area and come close to an Embry Riddle Aeronautical University plane that was already taxiing nearby. Parker then got out and ran toward an occupied aircraft with its engine running, but he could not get inside because the door was locked, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office. Investigators said he then moved toward other planes on the field while airport workers and university security chased him. The airport later said Parker was restrained in less than four minutes from the time his car broke through the gate, a short span that officials said helped keep the event from turning into something much worse.
Sheriff’s officials and local video reporting filled in the next moments. Deputies said an airport operations technician pulled Parker out of one aircraft and sat him on the tailgate of a truck, but Parker jumped down and ran again before officers caught up with him and put him in handcuffs. The sheriff’s office said Parker briefly made entry into two unoccupied aircraft after failing to get into the occupied running plane. Air traffic control audio reported by local television captured how quickly the runway problem spread through the airport, with a controller warning that there was “an unauthorized vehicle on the airfield.” Body camera footage released the next day showed Parker barefoot, disoriented and struggling to explain what had happened. When a deputy asked what was going on, Parker answered, “I don’t remember,” and later said he had gone to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting before “doing cocaine, drinking, and smoking pot,” according to the video and sheriff’s account.
The setting gave the episode added weight. Daytona Beach International Airport handles commercial flights and also shares airfield space with Embry Riddle’s large flight training operation, meaning student pilots, instructors, airport workers and controllers can all be active in the same area at the same time. Airport officials said the gate Parker struck was locked, secure and part of a perimeter that meets or exceeds federal security rules. They also said staff and deputies regularly patrol and inspect the fencing and gates, and that security cameras are monitored in real time. In a statement a day after the incident, the airport said all people and aircraft remained safe and normal operations continued. Officials credited eyewitnesses who called 911, the controller who quickly reported the breach and the airport operations employee and Embry Riddle security officer who chased Parker on foot. That official response became part of the story almost as quickly as Parker’s arrest because airport leaders wanted to show that the breach, while serious, was contained fast.
By Thursday, March 26, the criminal case had started to take shape in Volusia County. Parker was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges that included attempted aircraft piracy, burglary of a conveyance, felony trespass in an airport operational area, criminal mischief, DUI with property damage, refusal to submit to testing and two counts of exposure of sexual organs. Local reporting said court records also listed the case as his third DUI incident within 10 years. During a first appearance hearing on Thursday, a judge denied bond, keeping Parker in custody as investigators continued reviewing witness statements, body camera footage, airport security records and other evidence. The sheriff’s office said the FBI was on scene the day of the breach along with the agency’s domestic security unit, a sign that authorities were treating the event as more than a routine trespass or impaired driving case. As of Sunday, March 29, no separate federal charge had been publicly announced.
Several of the most important questions in the case remain unsettled. Authorities have publicly described what Parker did, but they have said far less about what he intended to do once he reached an aircraft. Public statements do not show that he had flight training, lawful access to any plane or the ability to start and move one on his own. What is clear from the state charge is that prosecutors viewed the attempted entry into aircraft on a secured airfield as a serious offense, not simply a drunken outburst. The body camera footage adds another layer without fully answering the intent issue. Parker appeared confused and intoxicated, asking deputies what gate he had gone through and why his car was on the airfield. That confusion could become an important part of the defense if the case moves deeper into court, but it does not erase the sequence officers and witnesses described, a car through a gate, a run across an active field and repeated attempts to get into aircraft while workers chased him.
The public picture of the scene is unusually vivid because so many parts of the response were documented in real time. Witnesses called 911. Air traffic control issued warnings. Deputies arrived to find a destroyed gate and an active airport around them. Airport staff and university security were already in pursuit. Then the body camera video captured Parker sitting on the pavement, looking around and asking how he had ended up there. That footage helped turn a local airport breach into a national story, especially once the phrase “attempted aircraft piracy” appeared in the booking charges. Yet officials have tried to keep the focus on the response as much as the spectacle. In its statement, the airport praised the people who spotted the danger first and moved to stop it. The sheriff’s office, for its part, released a concise account that emphasized the nearly struck training aircraft, the occupied running plane and the chase that ended before anyone on the field was hurt.
For now, the case stands at an early but consequential point. Parker is jailed without bond, the state charges are public and investigators from local and federal agencies are still examining the breach. The next visible step is expected to come in Volusia County court, where any updated charging documents, hearing dates or defense filings will begin to show how prosecutors plan to present a case that lasted only minutes but reached one of the most secure areas of a public airport.
Author note: Last updated March 29, 2026.