DUI Driver Sentenced In Deadly Bensalem Crash

BENSALEM, PA — A man who was driving drunk when he killed a man and severely injured his wife and a Lyft driver in a crash in Bensalem has been sentenced to prison.

Shane Learn, 49, of Toronto, was sentenced Wednesday in Bucks County Court to four and a half to nine years in prison for the April 28 crash, in the 4000 block of Richlieu Road in Bensalem.

Prosecutors say Neil Weiner, 57, and his wife Audrey Shapiro, of Northampton, did "exactly what is expected" that day, ordering a Lyft ride to Parx Casino, where they planned to drink alcohol.

"This case screams and reeks of irony – cruel irony," said Deputy District Attorney Robert D. James. "Their payment for being responsible adults is death and disfigurement, because [Learn] doesn’t get it."

Weiner suffered extensive injuries and died on May 1. Learn was charged about a week later and pleaded guilty in November to counts of homicide by vehicle while DUI, aggravated assault by vehicle and other charges.

Learn trained horses and had been drinking at Parx Casino prior to the crash. One of his horses had won that day, he said in court, and he had two beers and a shot of whiskey before leaving the casino.

From Parx, he drove to the nearby LongHorn Steakhouse, where he said he drank another whiskey, this time a double shot.

He was driving to a home where he was staying in Bensalem at about 7 p.m. when his Ford F-150 slammed head-on into the Chevy Malibu driven by Lyft driver Daniel Weingart. Police said Learn's truck was on cruise-control at the time of the crash.

In court, Learn said he knew he was too drunk to drive and has been filled with remorse since the crash.

"I just made a horrible mistake," he told his victims and their families at his sentencing. He said "distorted self-entitlement" and "alcoholic denial" led him to drive anyway.

"I don’t have a lot of loved ones," he said. "I don’t have any kids. I don’t know how you feel. I can’t even imagine the unrelenting agony you have had to feel, and probably still."

Shapiro said that, despite her own pain and serious injuries, it was seeing her husband in a hospital bed that "shook me to my core."

"This should never have happened," she said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have filed a detainer for Learn and he is expected to be deported to Canada after serving his sentence.

Judge Jeffrey G. Trauger said he believes that Learn feels "regret and shame" and said he hopes the crash can deter future tragedies.

"It is my hope that at some time, in some place, in some way these events will be recalled by some future driver," Trauger said.

Photo courtesy Bucks County District Attorney's office