We want to hear from you. We have activated our beta comment board system for this article while we are testing it. Please comment on the story and share your thoughts.SALT LAKE CITY — How Ronald Torres could have hit Milton Patterson — a man of no small size — and not realize it was not only unbelievable to Patterson's family, but to the judge who sent Torres to prison Monday.

"(Patterson) was hit so hard he was knocked out of his shoes," 3rd District Judge Robin Reese said. "It's hard for me to believe that you didn't understand you'd made contact with him."

Reese promptly sentenced Torres, 30, to the maximum penalty for failure to remain at an accident involving death, a third-degree felony. He ordered the man to serve a term of zero to five years in prison, and a concurrent sentence of one year for negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, in connection with the Oct. 23, 2009 accident.

Reese also ordered Torres to pay $7,000 in restitution and any additional costs Patterson's family might still owe in medical and funeral expenses as well as potential therapy treatment.

Torres was driving south on Bangerter Highway when he rear-ended Patterson's van while it was stopped at a red light near 4700 South.

Patterson got out of his car to inspect the damage and Torres backed up, then drove forward, striking Patterson and running the red light. Torres said in court he thought he may have hit something as he was fleeing the scene,"but I didn't think it was hard."

Family members said Patterson was actually dragged along the road for a time and suffered road rashes so severe he had to be buried in a plastic suit.

"It wasn't no bump," Patterson's son, Ryan, said after the hearing, noting that his father was 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighed more than 350 pounds.

Police arrived to find Patterson unconscious with severe brain injuries, facial fractures and respiratory problems. He was taken to Intermountain Medical Center, where he died a week later.

Two hours after the accident, Torres called police to report that his vehicle had been stolen. When officers located the vehicle not far from Torres' apartment, they found no signs of forced entry but the car showed collision damage, the documents state.

Torres initially insisted his car was stolen, but eventually admitted to driving the vehicle on the night of the accident. This initial dishonesty was one of many reasons Reese said he made the decision to order the prison sentence.

Torres' attorney, John Johnson, asked for alternatives to incarceration, such as an ankle monitor or community service time, stating that his client was only a "mild risk." Two family friends and Torres' father spoke in defense of the man.

"From my perspective, (Torres) is a good, gentle man who would never intentionally hurt anyone," family friend Craig Johnson said.

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Torres' father said any punishment the judge could hand down would only compound Torres' own guilt and a later judgment in the next life, a sentiment Ronald Torres echoed.

"(This incident) will haunt me for my entire life," he said. "This is a punishment beyond what the court can impose."

Torres disputed many of the facts as laid out in a pre-sentence report, namely that he had a history of alcohol use. He disputed that there were traces of alcohol and marijuana in his system, as police reported. He attributed his actions instead to "panic, fear and irresponsibility."

Patterson's oldest son and two of his stepchildren also spoke at the sentencing, recounting the great father and grandfather Patterson had been and how no real justice could be served in their eyes.

"Words cannot express what an amazing man (Patterson) was," stepdaughter Rachel Paul told the judge. "No amount of time behind bars will bring (him) back. There will never be justice for the man who was a wonderful husband, father who was taken from us too soon."

They said Patterson, a Navy veteran, was a proud father to 12 children and stepchildren and grandfather to 22, all of whom he treated as his own. Paul told of how she met Patterson and gave him her mother's number and how the two married five months later.

"I could tell he was a generous, kindhearted man," she said.

Derrick Paul read a statement on behalf of his mother, Patterson's widow, that spoke to just how strong Patterson's heart was, how it stubbornly refused to quit even after a week on life support.

"He didn't go easily," Patterson's stepson read. "His heart didn't want to quit beating — a heart that was kind, genuine, generous and loving."

After the hearing, Derrick Paul said that while he also feels no sentence could provide real justice, he was satisfied that Torres was given the harshest sentence available. But he questioned Torres' tearful apology.

"I think he was just feeling sorry for himself," he said.

Torres pleaded guilty to the charges in February. Additional class B misdemeanor charges of driving with a measurable controlled substance, ignition interlock violation, giving false information to law enforcement agencies and negligent collision were dismissed in exchange for Torres' plea.

Email:emorgan@ksl.com

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