Man convicted in deadly accident sentenced to 16 years
A man convicted of causing an accident involving death has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Court documents say that Michael Benton was taking an SUV on a test drive with his girlfriend last February when he fell asleep at the wheel.
He crashed into two men in the 1400 block of North Nevada Avenue. The crash killed a local plumber, Mark Meschelle, and injured Meschelle’s coworker, Ken Baker.
Police said Benton, 32, fled the crash scene, leaving his girlfriend to accept blame. Benton walked into the Police Operations Center days later and surrendered.
Benton’s maximum sentence would have been 20 years in prison.
