A 22-year-old man captured on surveillance cameras trying to drive into three young men with his Toyota pickup in Northeast Portland was sentenced Friday to three years in prison.

The prosecutor and defense attorney for the first time offered an explanation: Austin Keever-Nyberg sped toward the three people because he’d met up with them to sell them marijuana, but they allegedly pulled out a gun and robbed him instead.

Keever-Nyberg hopped into his Tacoma truck and chased after them, driving onto the sidewalk and striking two of them as he drove into Wilkes Park about 5 p.m. on Jan. 10, 2019.

“This was a very dark time for Mr. Keever-Nyberg,” his attorney, Grant Hartley, told Judge Thomas Ryan.

Keever-Nyberg apologized.

“I wasn’t in my right mind, and I”m sorry for what I did,” he told the judge. “... I’m just glad they’re OK. It doesn’t matter that they did wrong. It only matters that I did something wrong. And I accept the punishment.”

Keever-Nyberg is expected to serve at most only 16 months of the three-year sentence. That’s because he will be allowed to serve most of it at the same time he’s serving a nearly six-year prison term for robbing a Rite Aid pharmacy in Oregon City. Keever-Nyberg swiped prescription drugs at knifepoint from a pharmacy employee on Feb. 21, weeks after he was arrested for trying to run over the three youths and then released from jail pending trial.

5 Austin Keever-Nyberg sentenced for trying to drive into 3 people at Portland park

Hartley said his client’s life began to spiral out of control after he became addicted to opiates that were prescribed to him for an injury.

The Wilkes Park incident came to the attention of police and prosecutors only because it was recorded by three video cameras mounted on the home of a resident who lived next to the park. The resident posted the video the next day to YouTube, local news outlets picked up on the story and police started investigating.

The video begins with the three youths striding down the sidewalk, turning around, spotting Keever-Nyberg’s pickup and then bolting. The extent of the injuries to the two who were hit is unknown. But one of them -- seemingly miraculously -- can be seen popping up from the ground and running off after suffering a blow to his entire body.

“The individuals captured in the video have never really been identified and certainly didn’t come forward to make reports,” prosecutor Brian Davidson said during Keever-Nyberg’s plea and sentencing hearing.

Police linked a license plate from the video to Keever-Nyberg, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. A few days later, police found the pickup at a car dealership in the 19000 block of Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard. Several days after that they arrested Keever-Nyberg, then 21.

Keever-Nyberg pleaded guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court to attempted first-degree assault.

Davidson told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the three people who Keever-Nyberg said robbed him could have been investigated and possibly prosecuted if authorities were able to confirm who they were.

Keever-Nyberg also could have faced more serious charges and more prison time if the prosecution had identified the victims and learned they suffered serious injuries. Instead, Keever-Nyberg was charged with only attempted assault.

Keever-Nyberg thanked the prosecutor and the judge, saying he felt as if they cared about his future. He said he has used his time locked up so far to learn “about myself and the things that I do.”

Keever-Nyberg’s attorney said his client has strong family support. At a settlement conference, at least 15 people showed up to support him, Hartley said. At Friday’s hearing, Keever-Nyberg’s mother, grandmother and brother were among those present.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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