Petaluma woman gets jail in traffic death

A Petaluma woman is serving a jail sentence for the death of a Sebastopol man whom she hit with her car and then failed for hours to report the accident.

Georgia Argyle, 61, was ordered immediately jailed after Sonoma County Judge Gary Medvigy gave her the strictest sentence possible for the death of Ben Thornton, 45 — one year in county jail.

But taking into consideration time already served, Argyle is expected to be released July 3, jail officials said Monday.

Family and friends, totaling more than 40 people, jammed the courtroom Friday for the sentencing.

Ben Thornton’s father, Reese, and stepmother, Deborah, both read emotional statements, asking for the maximum sentence.

It wasn’t a matter of vengeance, said Reese Thornton of Sebastopol, but a matter of showing the community that leaving the scene and not reporting what happened for so long was horrendous and deserved the toughest punishment allowed.

“Everyone with whom I have spoken has been horrified that Ben was thus abandoned and dishonored by Ms. Argyle’s contempt for the law,” he said in his statement.

Ben Thornton, a developmentally disabled man who lived independently, was struck and killed May 29 by Argyle’s Toyota Corolla while walking home along Highway 116 from visiting with friends.

Accident reports said Argyle knew she’d struck something that night and Thornton’s body struck Argyle’s windshield, crushing part of it.

She later told CHP officers she stopped, got out and looked around, picking up a shoe and a fanny pack from the roadway before replacing them. She then drove home and went to bed. The next morning, she called to report she’d hit something.

A search of the site turned up Thornton’s body.

“She left our son laying on the ground for ... hours after she hit him. The car was so damaged there was no question she knew she’d hit somebody,” Reese Thornton said Monday.

In his court statement, he said, “The horror and grief of losing our greatly loved son is difficult enough. To think of his body being cast aside, rejected, just as he himself often was in life, left like road kill for predators to attack, continues to torture and torment us as it has daily for nearly nine months.”

Thornton praised Medvigy’s sentence.

“We felt justice was served within the parameter with what the judge had to work with,” he said.

Argyle also was ordered to pay $5,800 restitution to cover funeral expenses, but Reese Thornton said the family declined the money.

Instead, they asked that the money go to Becoming Independent, a local non-profit agency that helps developmentally disabled adults. Ben Thornton was a client and worked for the agency.

Ben Thornton grew up in Sebastopol, graduated from Analy High and ran for the track team.

People from throughout his life came to the hearing, said his father.

“He touched so many lives,” he said.