Authorities say a suspect opened fire after an I-95 crash, wounding a 23-year-old South Daytona officer before officers dragged him to safety and pulled the suspect from a burning patrol car.
PORT ORANGE, FL — Newly released body camera video shows the frantic moments after a South Daytona police officer was shot during a highway pursuit Sunday morning, as officers pulled the wounded officer off Interstate 95 and later wrestled the suspect from a patrol car that caught fire.
The footage has sharpened attention on a case that began with a reported shooting in Port Orange and quickly turned into an officer-involved shooting on one of Central Florida’s busiest highway corridors. Officer Jake Fessenden, 23, was shot in the shoulder and leg but is expected to survive, police said. The suspect, 31-year-old Todd Martin of Port Orange, was also shot and remained in critical condition Monday with gunshot wounds and severe burns. State investigators have taken over the review of the officer’s use of force, while local police continue to investigate the earlier shooting that set the chase in motion.
Police said the chain of events started around 6 a.m. Sunday, March 15, when Port Orange officers responded to a reported shooting near Country Lane. No one was hurt in that first shooting, but officers developed Martin as a suspect and located his vehicle, according to police accounts and statements from South Daytona Police Chief Joseph LaSata. Officers pursued the vehicle onto I-95, where it crashed near the interchange with I-4 and Beville Road. Martin then ran, and Officer Fessenden chased him on foot, LaSata said. “During the foot chase, he spun around and shot at my officer and my officer returned fire,” LaSata said later in a public briefing. The body camera footage released Monday shows the scene breaking into confusion almost at once, with officers shouting, taking cover and then dragging the wounded officer away from the gunfire.
The video, described by local stations as graphic and chaotic, captures officers and deputies working in close quarters on the shoulder of the highway after Fessenden was hit. Police said Martin kept moving after the exchange of gunfire and managed to crawl into a police vehicle. LaSata said the suspect tried to get away in it, but the patrol car caught fire while he was inside. Officers can be heard yelling as flames spread and smoke rises from the vehicle. Martin refused to get out at first, LaSata said, and then came out through the passenger side while on fire. Officers extinguished the flames and took him into custody. A semiautomatic pistol was recovered at the scene, according to a Port Orange Police Department post summarized in local coverage. Police have not publicly detailed how many shots were fired, what caused the patrol vehicle to ignite, or whether Martin was struck before or after he entered the cruiser.
Officials have released more about the people at the center of the case but left major questions unanswered. Fessenden, identified by South Daytona police as a 23-year-old officer, remained hospitalized Monday in stable condition. LaSata said he likely would spend another day or two in the hospital before going home. He said one bullet entered just above the officer’s body armor, underscoring how narrow the margin was between serious injury and a more deadly outcome. Martin, 31, was listed in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. Police have said he also fired multiple times at a vehicle in the original incident on Country Lane, though the exact circumstances of that encounter have not been fully explained. Authorities have not publicly identified the person or people involved in the first shooting call, and they have not said what evidence led them to identify Martin so quickly as the person they were chasing.
The shooting came during a tense weekend in the Daytona Beach area, where several separate shootings were reported as large spring break crowds moved through Volusia County. Officials stressed that the I-95 case was not a random highway encounter but part of a sequence that began with a separate gunfire complaint in Port Orange. Still, the image of officers exchanging gunfire near one of the region’s busiest interchanges added to broader worries about public safety during a high traffic weekend. Local coverage showed a heavily damaged South Daytona police SUV on the roadside near the crash scene. LaSata said his officers were aware they were dealing with a shooting suspect before the chase ended, and he praised their response under pressure. “They tried to be safe and went after him,” the chief said. The footage released Monday appears to support that account by showing officers moving quickly to rescue Fessenden while also trying to contain an armed suspect in a shifting, dangerous scene.
The case is now moving on two tracks. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is reviewing the officer-involved shooting, a standard step when police use force and a suspect is shot. At the same time, Port Orange police are handling the broader criminal investigation into the original reported shooting, the chase and the gunfire that wounded Fessenden. LaSata said that if Martin survives, he is expected to face a charge of attempted murder of a police officer. As of Monday evening, officials had not announced a formal booking on that charge, and Martin remained hospitalized. Investigators have not said whether additional charges tied to the Country Lane shooting, the pursuit or damage to police vehicles are also being prepared. They also have not released body camera footage from every officer at the scene, which means some parts of the timeline still depend on police summaries and the video angles made public so far.
For the officers on scene, the most striking moments were not the gunfire itself but what followed. The body camera video shows how quickly attention shifted from pursuit to rescue. Officers can be heard calling out directions, checking on Fessenden and trying to get him moved while the threat was still unfolding nearby. Then the focus turns again as Martin gets into the patrol car and the fire begins. The sequence gives the case an unusually compressed, visual narrative: a shooting suspect flees, crashes, runs, shoots an officer, is shot himself, gets into a police car and then is pulled from the flames. LaSata said his officers responded the way they were trained to respond, and the video has become the clearest public record yet of that split-second series of decisions. It also leaves a harder, quieter image at the center of the case: a wounded officer on the shoulder of the interstate, surrounded by fellow officers trying to keep him alive.
By late Monday, Fessenden was stable in the hospital, Martin remained in critical condition, and investigators were still sorting out the first shooting call that led to the chase. The next milestones are Martin’s medical status and any formal charges, along with further findings from Port Orange police and FDLE.
Author note: Last updated March 16, 2026.