David Black, convicted in fatal street race, back in jail

It was one of the most controversial cases in recent Deschutes County history. And now, a Bend man who went to prison for over six years in a deadly street race and was released in 2010 is back behind bars, arrested on charges that include drunk and reckless driving and giving false information to a police officer.

David Allen Black, now 30, was driving a 1990s Honda Del Sol and observed making a traffic violation around 11 p.m. Sunday at Highway 20 and 27 th Street on Bend’s Eastside. He soon was pulled over by a Bend officer east of town, at Highway 20 and the Powell Butte Highway, said Lt. Ken Mannix.

“During the contact, Mr. Black provided false information to the officer,” Mannix said, and it was learned his driving status was “felony revoked.”

Black remained in the Deschutes County Jail Wednesday, held on $70,000 bail pending an Oct. 20 court date, jail records showed. Other charges include reckless driving, recklessly endangering and two counts of first-degree criminal mischief.

Over a decade ago, in August 2003, Crook County sheriff’s officers broke up a street-racing gathering in the Four Corners area east of Alfalfa, and several cars sped back to Bend on the area’s narrow, twisting roads; deputies said they were not pursuing them.

Black, 19 at the time, said a car driven by 16-year-old Danielle Gates came up behind him, challenging him to a race. After racing at speeds well over 100 mph, Black said Gates passed him and went on to race Randy Clifford, also 19.

Black insisted he backed off Gates’ car before she lost control going into a turn, hitting an oncoming van and killing herself and her passenger, Stephanie Beeksma, 15, also seriously injuring the driver of the other vehicle.

Clifford, also charged with manslaughter, eventually took a plea deal and spent little time in jail. But Black and his family professed his innocence and turned down any deal.

Instead, Deschutes County Circuit Judge Stephen Tiktin held a trial – recorded by ABC for a later newsmagazine segment – and found Black guilty of manslaughter. Under the mandatory minimum sentence requirements of Oregon’s Measure 11, he said he had no choice but to sentence Black to over six years in prison.

One post-prison condition clearly bothered Black in interviews – that his driver’s license would be suspended and he could not legally drive a car again for eight years after his release. (Less than four years of that period has passed.)

Wednesday afternoon, sources who say they know Black, but wished to not be identified, said he frequently broke his felony driving suspension and also was still involved in racing.

A look through public photos on Black’s Facebook page shows several recent photos of a sports car.

While Black has appealed his conviction and sentence, both in and out of prison, criticism of the outcome and the rigid nature of Measure 11’s mandatory minimum sentences also led to controversy and calls for the governor to commute his sentence. It never happened.

Much of the criticism focused on long-time county DA Mike Dugan, who critics said unfairly sought to make an example out of Black. The Bulletin called him overly zealous and said Black got a much harsher sentence than many reckless drivers “who actually kill people.”

“Some believe that’s why I lost” the 2010 re-election bid to challenger Patrick Flaherty, Dugan said Thursday from Vale, where he’s helping Malheur County prosecute a death-penalty case.

But Dugan steadfastly held to his belief that “the facts and the law found (Black) guilty” of manslaughter.

Tiktin, who Dugan called “one of the smartest judges in Deschutes County in my 20 years” as DA gave Black two chances to take a plea deal.

“David Black had every fair opportunity to avoid going to prison,” the former DA said.

While noting that on the new charges, Black is innocent until proven guilty, Dugan added, “David Black knew he couldn’t drive for eight years after getting out. You certainly don’t drink and drive, and you don’t drive with a felony suspension.”

Julie Rehanek of Bend, Beeksma’s mother, told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday that news of Black’s latest troubles “just brings up the worst day of my life.”

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “Everything they were supposed to do, they didn’t do.”

Rehanek said Clifford was supposed to join her and speak to young people about the dangers of street racing, but didn’t appear when she spoke three times at the Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge program east of Bend.