Deadly Street Race Leaves Tragedy In Wake

Nearly four years after a tragic street-racing crash killed two Bend teens east of Bend, a mother still mourns, a young man sits in prison and another summer of boredom-fighting danger looms.

In a trial that drew national attention, a judge found then-18-year-old David Black guilty of manslaughter for his role in the Aug. 8, 2003 crash on Alfalfa Market Road. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison.

“Inever expected prison, never in my wildest dreams,” Black told NewsChannel 21 in a recent prison interview.

Stephanie Beeksma’s mother, Julie Rehanek, also lives an unexpected life, without her daughter.

“I ache for her,” she says., “I ache for a hug, a kiss, or a ‘MommyI love you.'”

Time has blurred some details of the fateful night, but Rehanek will never forget what changed her life forever, and the lives of those who knew and loved Beeksma and the otherteen who died, 16-year-old Danielle (Dani)O’Neil.

“I remember Dani’s mom calling me and asking me if the girls had come home yet because there was a car wreck, and I had said, ‘No, they should be here any second.'”

But those seconds quickly vanished and a short time later came the tragic word.

“I got a phone call from one of Stephanie’s friends that she was gone, that they were both gone,” Rehanek recalls.

It wasn’t until later that Julie learned what really happened.

“The girls were on their way back to town in Dani’s Mitsubishi Eclipse after a night of street racing was broken up by police.That’s when they encountered fellow street racer Black.

“The Eclipse came up on me,” herecalls, “and I had wanted to race that car that night, soI figured now is the best time as any.”

Topping speeds of 120 mph, the cars battled it out on the twisting road back to Bend, when Black saysDani passed him and went on to race 19-year-old Randy Clifford.

Black says, “After that we started to lose view of them because of the turns, and then we lost view of them.”

Dani lost control of the car on that curve.

“Next thing you know,” Blacksays, “I come around the corner and there’s dust in the air and Randy was waving his arms.”

They came upon the1999 black Eclipse Dani had been driving, crumpled on the side of the road.

“You could see the driver hanging out of the car,” he recalls. “Once I went up to the car, I knew right away -they’re not alive.”

Stephanie was killed instantly. Dani died a short time later.

Rehanek says,”It was like it wasn’t real until I saw her. She looked like she was sleeping. She didn’t really have any scratches and she had a smile on her face.”

For Black, the night is replayed over and over at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton. “He has been behind a barbed wire fence for three years, all for a crime he still says he didn’t commit.

“Two girls died- someone should be punished,” Black says. “Understandable. But I’m the innocent guy. They were out there street racing knowingly and willingly.”

But Rehanek says her daughter had never been to the street races before.

Black’s eyes tear up as he talks of missing birthdays, of not being able to see his mom as Mother’s Day approaches.

“It’s really hard to be in here,” he says.

Black will be 26 when he gets out of prison. Meanwhile, the life he knew continues outside the prison walls, without him.

And he says he will never race again.

“I don’t want to do it again,” Black says. “I will never do it again, no matter what happens. I will never go back to prison for the rest of my life.”

Despite his claims of innocence, Black also says others should learn from the lesson he’s so painfully learned.

“Know what you’re getting into with street racing,” he says. “You may never get in trouble with it, like a lot of people who’ve been lucky. But when you do, you definitely realize what you’re losing.”

The day of peace may never come forStephanie’s mother, as the”what if’s” continue to haunt her.

“She’d be 18, and she’d be graduated from high school,” Rehanek says of her beloved daughter Stephanie.

“I would never wish this on any mother.”

That’s why Julie speaks to anyone who will listen, educating kids on the dangers of street racing. One night of cheap adrenaline has a high price to pay.

David Black, meanwhile, has filed an appeal in his case.

And he saysthe street racing scene in Central Oregon has only grown since he’s been in prison.