Black

A Bend man who was convicted of manslaughter in 2004 for the death of a teenage girl during a drag race on Alfalfa Market Road was arrested and booked into the Deschutes County jail on Sunday night on suspicion of driving recklessly, under the influence of intoxicants and while his license is suspended.

David Black, 30, had his license revoked until 2018 for the second-degree manslaughter charge, a Class B felony.

In 2004, Black, then 20, was sentenced in Deschutes County to more than six years in prison for his role in the death of 15-year-old Stephanie Beeksma. Black was released from Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras in 2010.

At about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Black was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, giving false information to the police and driving with a suspended license on Northeast Third Street just south of Empire Avenue, according to Bend Police.

He was arraigned on the charges on Monday and is being held in the Deschutes County jail on $70,000 bail.

In the early hours of Aug. 9, 2003, 16-year-old Danielle Gates lost control of the car she was driving while racing Black and his co-defendant, 21-year-old Randall Scott Clifford, and was hit by a van.

She and Beeksma, who was a passenger in Gates’ car, were both killed.

The crash took place minutes after Crook County Sheriff’s Sgt. James Savage broke up a drag-racing contest on Alfalfa Market Road, according to Bulletin archives.

Clifford, Black and Gates each took off at speeds up to 120 mph. Savage did not follow them. Neither Black nor Clifford was charged in connection with Gates’ death because she was determined to be a willing participant in the race.

Clifford entered into a plea agreement and was sentenced to six months in jail, according to Bulletin archives.

Black maintained his innocence, saying that he was not racing Gates when her car went off the road, but was sentenced to 75 months in prison under Measure 11, which states that certain crimes — including second-degree manslaughter — are subject to mandatory sentencing minimums.

In 2009, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed Black’s sentence without issuing an opinion. Black filed a petition for and was denied clemency by then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski later that year.

Black was also indicted on two charges of criminal mischief on Monday. The alleged criminal mischief offenses occurred Oct. 3.

Black is scheduled to be arraigned on indictment on the driving-related charges in Deschutes County Circuit Court at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com