To catch a car thief: The video the prosecutor showed

That’s the video we mentioned in our earlier report on King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg‘s presentation today to the Rotary Club of West Seattle; as soon as we saw it, even before Satterberg finished speaking, we sent a note to his media liaison to ask if we could have a copy to share with you – it is quite the gripping clip, with video and audio from inside a police car as officers worked to stop the driver of a stolen car, who sped throughout West Seattle one night in November 2007. Not sure if this has been made public before – we were still working in TV news then, and don’t remember having seen it – nonetheless, it’s worth a look. As Satterberg observed, “This is why auto theft is not really a nonviolent crime – it’s amazing (in this case) that no one got killed.” (As for what happened to the guy arrested at the end of this – that’ll be another followup.)

rustlessnative March 3, 2009 (8:43 pm)

WOW!! Things that go bump in the night. I don’t know if I really wanted to see that.

Todd March 3, 2009 (8:50 pm)

Hey, watch out for that hill.

Farmerbetsy March 3, 2009 (9:07 pm)

This was perversely enjoyable, knowing it was going to end “well.” Was I the only one hear video game music in the back of their heads while watching this? So disturbing to see this happening on the streets where we go about our daily business. I’m grateful this went down at 3 a.m. and not 3 p.m. or surely there would have been fatalities. Why didn’t they do this with the guy who stole MY Honda five years ago?

CB March 3, 2009 (9:12 pm)

Nice job SPD.

j March 3, 2009 (9:41 pm)

What that a Honda Pilot? I had no idea they were that fast!

Chuck and Sally\\\'s Van Man March 3, 2009 (9:51 pm)

God I hate thieves. Good job SPD. Keep it up.

d March 3, 2009 (10:31 pm)

Wow.

Awesome SPD – we heart you.

M&M March 3, 2009 (11:01 pm)

Glad they caught the guy. I’m wondering why they let it run for so long before laying spikes? I can understand not ramming him on local streets at high speed but there were a few moments when both vehicles came to a complete stop, why not pin them in when they are stopped? Hard to say without all the details but just seems odd it went on for so long that close to residences.

The police cruiser seemed to have issues keeping up at times, surprising as the Pilot is pretty much a dog for power due to it’s weight and shotty gearing with a mediocre V6 in it.

What The March 4, 2009 (12:00 am)

Without really knowing which direction the thief was going how would you know where to place the spikes in the first place? To be honest with you I was really quite impressed that they actually got him using this method.

I really don’t think that the officer had an issue in regards to “keeping up” in that he knew support was en route/intersecting and by not following so closely at high speeds through residential streets he in turn may have gotten the criminal to back off the gas peddle a bit and ultimately reduced the risk of further damage.

Just my 2 cents…

WSB March 4, 2009 (12:06 am)

They did put down spike strips at least twice, according to occasional interjected narrative from Dan Satterberg at the Rotary event. Part of why they chose this clip, it seemed, was just to show how dogged criminals can be … and therefore particularly dangerous. Note there were some edits in here (although what we uploaded is the entire clip as provided by the prosecutor’s office). I still can’t believe the suspect maneuvered around some of the “traffic calming” features on the side streets so seemingly effortlessly! – TR

mike March 4, 2009 (12:22 am)

That was a cool video. Next time he should at least try to steal something that can actually outrun a cop car before trying that.

Jim March 4, 2009 (1:11 am)

Just plotting that out on Google earth, it was 9.3 miles from start to finish, with some obvious assumptions for the edits.

Jerry Whiting March 4, 2009 (7:32 am)

Whoa! Gimme more of these!

Great fun to watch a car chase in my hood. Bozo went right past my office at ActivSpace.

Can we see more stuff like this? Sure beats reading about the freakin’ snow.

>> why not pin them in when they are stopped?
Cuz it was a white boy. If it was a brotha, SPD woulda shot his ass.

Westwood Resident March 4, 2009 (8:26 am)

But the kicker is that the guy was probably out of jail in 3 hours and won’t face jail time (unless he has stolen at least 8-10 cars).[/sarcasm]
Mayor McCheese has directed that property crimes take a back burner.
But hey…
Mayor McCheese is now your problem, I moved outside the city limits this past weekend.
This is in NO WAY to be taken as a rant against SPD, but to the leadership of what was the finest city in the USA to live.

brandon March 4, 2009 (9:31 am)

Yeah Jerry, lets glorify it some more.

big gulps,eh? well, see ya later. March 4, 2009 (9:40 am)

Jerry, Not cool to say SPD would have shot him if he wasn’t white. I also bet you would have been able to pin him in when he stopped. Just like in GTA, right?

Patrick Sand March 4, 2009 (9:55 am)

FWIW – a data point – the audio track on the video describes the suspect as an African-American male. Tracy is still working at finding out what the upshot of the case was and she’ll post that when it’s available.

Cami March 4, 2009 (11:22 am)

I just don’t see how high speed chases are worth it.

jon March 5, 2009 (12:05 am)

Westwood:

No. The Mayor has absolutely no say on the matter. The Seattle Municipal Court does not handle felonies.

The applicable laws are at the State level, and the prosecution of the case falls on the County. It just so happens that the State, recognizing auto theft as a major problem tripled the offender score for prior auto theft convictions. So, if you had merely one prior TMV or Theft of Auto on your record, a second conviction (even without the additional felony for eluding) would result in a minimum sentence of around 6 months,

Auto thefts add up quickly in this state.

BusinessOwner March 6, 2009 (6:23 pm)

I usually have nothing good to say about SPD. But they did a great job! Kept their distance as not compound the problem with property damage or violence. Again, I loath SPD, but perhaps this lot of 3rd watch was hand picked to be logical, thoughtful and above ALL care for the community they protect! Wow! BTW, I agree with Jimmy regarding the getting shot if it were 1998 – 2004. Seems like the department really is different.

WSB March 6, 2009 (6:29 pm)

By the way, I finally obtained the paperwork on this case from the prosecutor’s office, and the kicker is that the guy was arrested again a few month after serving his jail time. Working on the story for either late tonight or sometime tomorrow, lot of documents to process … TR

Sorry, comment time is over.