Chase gets "bait car" thief 7 years

A judge strongly rejected arguments Friday that Bellevue police were responsible for possibly endangering the public during a March chase of a stolen "bait car" that resulted in shots being fired at the fleeing thief.

Instead, the judge followed a prosecutor's recommendation and imposed a seven-year prison term on Jason Scott Collins, who pleaded guilty to several charges resulting from the chase, including theft, assault, and possessing stolen property.

"I don't know why we're talking about what the Bellevue police did or didn't do," King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum told the defendant in imposing the sentence Friday. "We're here because of you. The crimes are your fault, not the Bellevue police."

Lum noted that Collins, 27, had been sentenced on a 2005 charge involving auto theft six days before he led police on the March chase in a stolen car.

Collins admitted stealing the decoy car and said his crimes were the result of his drug addiction. His attorney argued that Bellevue police shared culpability for endangering the public in the March 14 chase for failing to turn off the engine to the bait car. The Honda Civic was left with keys visible on the passenger seat at Bellevue Community College as part of an anti-car-theft program.

The pursuit along Interstate 90 and I-405, ending in the Newport Shores area, was caught on live television. Police fired shots when Collins turned around on a dead-end street and tried to run down pursuing motorcycle officers. A videotape made of Collins inside the stolen Honda also was widely disseminated after he pleaded guilty to the theft in October.

The bait-car program uses vehicles equipped with hidden cameras, locating devices and other remote-control mechanisms to capture car thieves.

The seven-year sentence is near the high end of possible penalties allowed under state sentencing guidelines, noted Deputy Prosecutor Alex Voorhees. The defense attorney, Byron Ward, asked for a five-year term.

Collins received lesser sentences on some counts of the charges, with the prison terms to be served concurrently.

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