PORTLAND, Ore. — A driver charged with hitting and killing a man near a homeless camp in Southeast Portland's Buckman neighborhood on Sunday threatened to run over the camp prior to the deadly crash, according to witness statements detailed in new court documents.
Portland police took 22-year-old Shane McKeever into custody.
The man who was hit was taken to Oregon Health and Science University Hospital where he died. Portland police and the medical examiner have not released his name, but he was identified in court documents as David Bentley. His friends called him Dino.
KGW interviewed Bentley several times last summer. He shared how he was tired of living on the streets.
"I don't want to die out here. I don't want to die just another homeless guy, just another number," Bentley said in an interview in August 2023.
KGW spoke to a man on Tuesday who was friends with Bentley.
"Everybody loved him because he always helped everybody out," he said. "He was true, he was honest, helped everybody out."
The man said Bentley lived under bridges in Portland for years before moving into a city-sanctioned homeless camp last August. But he moved out, his friend said, because the rules and structure of the sanctioned camp were a challenge for him. His friend said he was with Bentley shortly before his death.
"I said, 'What's up, how you doing?' And he said he was doing fine and I said 'OK,' The next thing I know, I came back home and somebody said Dino just got killed," he said.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's Office released a statement about Bentley's death on Tuesday, saying they were sad to learn of his death. The mayor's office said Bentley was well-known to outreach workers in Portland and called his death a "sobering testament of how dangerous living on the streets can be."
On Feb. 25 just before 3 a.m., Portland police responded to a report of a vehicle driving into tents. A police officer saw several tents that appeared to have been run over and a man lying on his stomach with "an obvious head wound," court documents say.
A witness told police he was hanging out with friends at a small homeless camp at Southeast Belmont Street and Southeast Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. He said McKeever walked into the camp and "started to argue with everyone" before eventually leaving. One of his friends said McKeever threatened to run over their camp. The witness left on his bicycle to check on other camps in the area. One of his friends checked back on the homeless camp at Southeast Belmont and Southeast Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and said McKeever ran someone over. Several people at the camp also said McKeever crashed into it, court documents say.
Another witness told police he was talking to Bentley when a vehicle approached them driving 40-50 mph and hit the victim. He said the vehicle continued to drive on the sidewalk, ran over some belongings, then turned around and tried to run him over but he jumped out of the way.
Police also spoke to a 911 caller who said he saw the vehicle drive through the homeless camp near the parking lot. The man, who lives in a nearby apartment building, said the vehicle made a U-turn in the camp and "appeared to be intentionally trying to run people over in the camp," court documents say. He also said he heard four to five gunshots and didn't see who fired them, but believed that it was someone from the camp under the Morrison Bridge.
Several people flagged down police and said they had stopped McKeever near Southeast Belmont Street and Southeast Water Avenue. Police arrested him.
"He said, 'What did I do? What did I do?' I said, 'You killed a guy," said the man KGW talked to on Tuesday. "We told him, 'You're going to pay for what you did 'cause we don't need to be killed out here for no reason.'"
Police learned the vehicle McKeever was driving had been reported stolen a day before the deadly crash, according to court documents. McKeever has twice been convicted of assault in Oregon and investigators said he has a history of domestic violence.