A Portland man, Shane McKeever, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after a deadly encounter which resulted in the death of David R. Bentley beneath the Morrison Bridge last year, an incident Mceever attributes to his anger and meth-fueled actions. McKeever, who was looking to procure fentanyl, became incensed following a failed transaction with a group of people, which soon escalated into the fatal event, as reported by OregonLive.
According to court documents and details obtained by KATU, after the confrontation heated McKeever, in a state of fury, commandeered a stolen vehicle then proceed to drive it dangerously through a homeless camp located on SE Belmont Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard this incident resulted in Bentley sustaining severe injuries after being run over, despite the immediate medical attention provided at a local hospital, he succumbed to his wounds.
Witnesses on the scene described the vehicle making aggressive maneuvers, with one observer noting that McKeever appeared to be intentionally aiming for camp residents, a detail that reinforces the gravity of the violence that unfolded in the early hours of February 25, 2024. The said witness shared these observations in a statement obtained by KPTV.
The aftermath saw McKeever also striking tents and attempting to hit another person at the camp, although he eventually abandoned the vehicle in the ensuing chaos of the moment, some civilians managed to subdue McKeever and held him until police arrived, during this incident an unidentified individual reportedly fired shots at McKeever but was not located by authorities," McKeever later entered a guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter and no contest to attempted murder on June 9, as per court records. Along with his prison term, McKeever has been ordered to pay restitution to the Crime Victims of DOJ, a fund assisting victims of violent crimes, amounting to $1,645, these legal consequences were detailed in the reporting by KPTV.
