Ca. Teen Who Live-Streamed Car Crash That Killed Sister Sentenced to More Than 6 Years in Prison
Obdulia Sanchez, the 18-year-old who drove drunk while live-streaming a car crash that killed her younger sister, has been sentenced to prison.
On Thursday, the Stockton, California, native, was sentenced to six years and four months in prison for gross vehicular manslaughter, DUI and child endangerment for the crash that killed her 14-year-old sister Jacqueline Sanchez and injured 15-year-old Manuela Seja in July 2017, according to The Merced Sun Star.
“I feel like such an idiot. Why did God choose me to be the older sister? I can’t even do my job right,” Obdulia said in an emotional statement in Merced County Superior Court. “I had so much potential, but I threw it all away because I wanted to look cool and drive carelessly,” added, Obdulia who broke down in tears.
“When I look at my mom’s face, I know she hates me. I would hate myself too. I’m such a disappointment to my parents.”
With good behavior in prison, Obdulia could be eligible for release on Sept. 21, 2020. The DA had sought the maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.
On July 21, Jacqueline had promised girlfriend Manuela they would see each other every weekend, so older sister Obdulia made the two-and-a-half hour drive from Stockton to Fresno, California, in a 2003 Buick Century to pick Maneula up and bring her back to the Sanchez house.
Obdulia was driving on the highway in Los Banos, California, about an hour northwest of Fresno, when she somehow lost control of the car, authorities said.
When the Buick veered onto the shoulder, Obdulia overcorrected and swerved back across the road, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol obtained by PEOPLE. She blew through a barbed wire fence into a field and flipped over, ejecting her two passengers, who weren’t wearing seatbelts.
In the footage, Obdulia was shown next to Jacqueline’s bloodied body, yelling into the camera, “I f—— killed my sister, okay. I know I’m going to jail for life alright. I understand that. This is the last thing I wanted to happen.”
Manuela suffered trauma to her leg in the wreck.
“I didn’t even know I looked like a monster — like I look like a freaking horrible monster. That was not my intention at all,” Obdulia told local TV station KGPE in August during her first interview from jail.
“We were perfectly freaking fine. Then next thing I know, we started going left. We started going left, then I started to stop the car. Then we flipped over,” she added. “And then I look in the back seat and there’s nobody in the back seat, and that’s when I started freaking out.”
Describing her sister as her best friend, Obdulia said, “She’s like my mini-me. She looked just like me. Anytime I look at her, it’s like I’m looking at myself. It makes me really sad that she’s gone.”
