Car thief takes "bait" — on video

The grainy black-and-white video runs about 20 minutes, with no sound, but the images of a car theft in progress are unmistakable — from the thief's first smirk as he finds the ignition key on the car seat, to his frantic expressions during the police pursuit, to the sobbing conclusion as officers approach for an arrest.

Made by a camera hidden in the dashboard of a Honda Civic, the video shows the theft and capture of the driver, all caught up-close as part of a Bellevue Police Department "bait car" program.

The driver, Jason Scott Collins, 27, of Kent, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of theft, assault and possession of stolen property.

The episode took place March 14, when the Honda was stolen at Bellevue Community College. It ended after a police pursuit along Interstate 405 to the Newport Shores area, where, thwarted by a dead-end road, Collins turned around and tried to run down three motorcycle officers while they fired at the vehicle.

The entire sequence is captured on video, starting with Collins getting into the unlocked car, where the keys were left on the passenger seat, and smirking as he tries to remove the stereo. He rummages through the car, starts the engine and drives onto Interstate 90, adjusting the rear-view mirror and smiling as he checks his appearance. Then he waves his fist in the air as he seems to congratulate himself on the successful theft.

Within minutes his demeanor changes as the video shows him turning the car around at the dead-end street after going from I-90 to I-405, realizing officers are following him. He ducks to the right and frantically reaches up to touch his head as a bullet comes through the rear window and grazes his head.

The final images show the car slowing, disabled by a Canadian monitoring company that cut off power to the engine, and Collins desperately shaking the steering wheel as if trying to make the car continue.

In the last frames, he has his hands on his head, unable to get out of the car because it has been locked by the monitoring company, and he is sobbing as officers come to remove him from the Honda.

Under normal circumstances, said Officer Greg Grannis, police public-information officer, the car would have been disabled when officers first had it in sight. But Collins drove onto the freeway, then got on the dead-end road, before officers were close enough to order the car disabled.

Bait cars are set up to trap car thieves, and they are equipped with hidden cameras, tracking systems and equipment that turns off the engine and locks the doors when commanded by police.

The video normally would have been introduced at trial, but the guilty plea made it unnecessary to produce the video in court.

Instead, police showed the video Friday as an example of how car thieves can be captured and what can happen when they're caught.

"That's why we do this," said Grannis, explaining that the bait-car program serves as a kind of "boogey man" to deter car thieves.

"They should know that any car they steal could be a bait car," he said.

Collins is to be sentenced Nov. 2 and faces up to seven years in prison.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com