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SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

SHERIFF’S OFFICE WINTER STORMS » POTHOLES, COLLAPSES AND CLOSURES Former deputy’s County roads go from past had red flags bad to worse after rain Records show string of complaints, job exits over assaults involving Thorne

By JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A former Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy who could face trial on a felony charge of as- saulting a Sonoma Valley man he was trying to detain five months ago was hired by the county despite his checkered and limited job history with two other law enforcement agencies, a Press Democrat investigation has found. Scott Thorne, 40, was arrested and charged in January with fel- ony assault by an officer, mark- ing an exceptionally rare case in Sonoma County involving pros- ecution of a law enforcement officer for an on-duty incident. Thorne, a Walnut Creek res- ident, left the Sheriff’s Office within weeks of the Sept. 24 altercation, where prosecutors say he used a stun gun on the Boyes Hot Springs man as he lay in his own bed, then struck the man with his baton. Thorne, who has pleaded not guilty, began his career in law en- forcement 15 years ago, but before he joined the Sheriff’s Office in PHOTOS BY KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT 2015, his work history as a sworn officer totaled less than two years, PITTED PAVEMENT: Sergio Vasquez of Petaluma navigates the water-filled potholes Thursday along Sonoma Mountain Road above Petaluma. Record punishing rain employment records obtained by has wreaked havoc with the region’s road infrastructure this winter. the Press Democrat show.

TURN TO DEPUTY » PAGE A8 Widespread damage increases calls statewide for more funds to make repairs

By DEREK MOORE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Lacking proof, inter storms have brought wel- come relief from years of pun- Wishing drought, but they’ve been Trump says a disaster for North Bay roads, carving out more car-crunching potholes, washing phones tapped away lanes and forcing long-term closures in several locations. By PHILIP RUCKER Motorists here have long suffered with AND ELLEN NAKASHIMA some of the worst roads in the state. Now, WASHINGTON POST it’s even worse in places. Sonoma Mountain President Donald Trump on INSIDE Road — voted Sonoma Saturday angrily accused for- See a list of the roads County’s worst in an mer president Barack Obama of across the county online poll in 2015, orchestrating a “Nixon/Water- that have been before the storms — is gate” plot to tap the phones at his severely damaged barely navigable at Trump Tower headquarters in since January / A10 points due to torrential the run-up to last fall’s election, rainfall scouring away providing no evidence to support more of the asphalt. his explosive claim and drawing The winding, narrow road that climbs FALLEN ROAD: Monte Rio Fire Chief Steve Baxman on Jan. 17 walks a section of Cazadero Highway a flat denial from Obama’s office. Sonoma Mountain east of Rohnert Park that gave way because of the heavy winter rains. Leveling the extraordinary and ends near Glen Ellen, looks like an allegation about his predecessor airport runway “attacked by opposition ONLINE Watch a video capturing the extensive rain-related damage to a road at pressdemocrat.com in a series of four early morn- forces” during World War II, said Barry ing tweets, Trump said Obama Lawrence, a retired flight instructor who used by 20,000 drivers on a daily basis, has Mulas, a third-generation co-owner of her “had my ‘wires tapped’ ” at his has lived on Sonoma Mountain for 40 years. been closed 20 times at the juncture with family’s Schellville dairy. New York offices and suggested In Sonoma Valley, Vickie Mulas struck Highway 12 south of Sonoma this winter The complaints are echoed throughout that the former president had a pothole on Watmaugh Road so hard it because of roadway flooding, according to the region. meddled with the “very sacred flattened a tire on her Chevy Trailblazer. Caltrans. That’s the most closures in recent “North Coast roads and highways have election process.” Obama’s At the time, the rural byway was being memory. been beat to hell during this wet winter,” supposed actions, Trump said, used as a detour around flooding on High- “As a kid, once in a while I remember said State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg. amounted to McCarthyism. way 121 in Schellville. it flooding, but not to the extent it’s been The highway, a critical commuter link flooding for a number of years now,” said TURN TO ROADS » PAGE A10 TURN TO TRUMP » PAGE A2 Benicia teen’s 7-mile walking commute pays off ACT OF GENEROSITY » Hardworking man unable to little of the two-hour-and-15- minute journey each way. He afford to fix his car gets help from CHP, community would have no way of knowing that his daily routine would first By AMY B WANG belt and an engine valve on his prompt a surprise gift from the WASHINGTON POST 2001 Volvo had broken. Without local police — then inspire thou- enough money for repairs, he at sands of people to give far more. By now, the story hardly first got a few rides from friends But to Cpl. Kirk Keffer of the needs telling among Jourdan and co-workers — but soon de- Benicia Police Department, who Duncan’s family and friends. cided he would try to walk to was patrolling that area that Late one night last September, avoid burdening others. September night, the sight of a the teenager had been walking “To me, it was like a challenge lone pedestrian in that part of back to his parents’ home from to see if I was willing to do what- town after 11 p.m. was startling. work, a 7-mile trip from Benicia ever it takes to get to work,” “Usually in the industrial to Vallejo. Duncan, now 19, told the Wash- area there’s no foot traffic, so it BENICIA POLICE DEPARTMENT Duncan had been making ington Post then. was kind of weird to see some- Benicia police officers surprised Jourdan Duncan, center, in September the long commute on foot each Day by day the walk became with a bicycle after discovering he walked more than 7 miles to work. day since July, after the timing easier, and gradually he thought TURN TO BENICIA » PAGE A2

Benefield C1 Crossword T5 Lotto A2 Sports C1 BOOK INSPIRED BY COUNTY: Sebastopol author SANTA ROSA ©2017 Business E1 Forum B9 Movies D6 Towns T1 and illustrator team up on ‘Dear Sun, Dear High 52, Low 34 The Press Democrat Community B8 Gullixson B1 Obituaries B4 TV T7 Moon,’ rooted in their journey as friends / D1 THE WEATHER, C8