Smiling Man Accused of Stealing Car Planted by Police

-- A New Mexico man allegedly hopped into a vehicle that wasn’t his, blasting the popular tune “Best Day of My Life” before it became anything but.

Authorities say Drew Mayo, 21, took off in a bait car planted by the Albuquerque Police Department. The car was specifically equipped with a remote kill switch that police could trigger to disable the vehicle if stolen.

Surveillance video from inside the bait car appears to show Mayo entering the car in southeast Albuquerque around 10 P.M. Friday, turning the vehicle on, driving off and smiling while the American Authors’ song plays in the background.

But then the police remotely turned off the vehicle, and Mayo was ordered out of the car by officers.

Mayo was taken into custody and charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, court records indicate. He has since been released from custody, but it is unclear if he has retained an attorney.

Officials hope that, aside from the video's comedic nature, it will provide a valuable lesson and deter others from stealing cars.

"Part of the success of the bait car program is using it has a deterrent," Harold Medina, property crimes commander for the Albuquerque Police Department, told ABC News, "It's creating that fear among criminals."

"We hope it will deter them," Medina added, "but when they do steal [the bait car], it assists us in getting a good criminal off the streets."