Kayla Mendoza Sentenced 24 Years For Car Crash That Killed Two Following '2 Drunk 2 Care' Tweet

On November 17, 2013 at 1:45 a.m., Kayla Mendoza took the Sawgrass Expressway to head home after a night of partying in Florida. The 20-year-old found herself driving the wrong way on the highway which caused her to crash into a Toyota Camry containing best friends Marisa Catronio and Kaitlyn Ferrante. A couple of hours before the accident, Mendoza tweeted “2 Drunk 2 Care” which caused tremendous controversy on the media after it was reported that Catronio, 21, died in the scene, and Ferrante, also 21, had to be taken off life support a few days after the accident.

On Monday, Mendoza was sentenced to 24 years in prison and six months’ probation, after pleading guilty to two counts of DUI manslaughter. After the sentence, she decided to publicly read a letter in which she apologized to the victim’s families by telling them her “guilt is overwhelming” and that she would “trade spaces” with the girls she killed, if she could.

She then followed by saying “This all may be my fault, but at the end of the day, I’m a human being just like everyone else. I have a heart, and it aches every day. My life has changed and I will never be the person I was before.”

Christine Ferrante, mother of Kaitlyn Ferrante, responded with: “You took everything I worked so hard to keep safe and protected and destroyed it in one second, one careless second. You destroyed it all.”

Marisa Catronio’s brother, Dustin Catronio, also had some comments about Mendoza’s apology: “How do you forgive someone that ruined your life and your family’s life forever?”