Blood Tests Confirm Coral Springs Woman Who Killed Two in Crash Was Drunk

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20-year-old Kayla Mendoza sparked national outrage after she was involved in a crash where she was driving the wrong way on a highway and killed two people.  A tweet that the self-described “pothead princess” posted right before she hit the road said “2 drunk 2 care”, leading authorities to believe at the time that alcohol was a factor in the crash.  This was confirmed when the Florida Highway Patrol issued a search warrant stating that blood tests taken an hour after the crash at the hospital showed that Mendoza had a blood alcohol level of .15 and also had a positive result for marijuana.  The investigation after the accident showed that Mendoza was drinking with co-workers at the Tijuana Taxi Co. before the crash where she was driving her boyfriend’s car.  While Mendoza, who suffered from serious injuries in the accident herself, has not yet been charged, it seems that it is only a matter of time before she is.

With a blood alcohol content of .15, Mendoza was nearly twice the legal limit when she got behind the wheel, at least for someone over 21 years old.  Mendoza was not 21 though, only 20, meaning that her legal BAC was actually .02, not the standard .08.  In any case, having a .15 BAC still subjects her to special penalties if she is convicted of drunk driving due to this accident.  For a first offense, her administrative fines could be double and her maximum jail time goes up from six months to nine.  If this was a later offense, her penalties go up even further and could mean a full year in jail or more.

However, besides the charges that Mendoza faces for a standard drinking and driving charge, she also is facing multiple charges of Manslaughter or Vehicular Homicide because two people died as a result of her driving after she had been drinking.  These charges involve significantly more jail time than she would face if she had been pulled over by an officer or at a checkpoint and was not involved in the crash.  If she is charged with DUI/Manslaughter or Vehicular Manslaughter she faces a $10,000 fine and/or 15 years in prison, meaning that she could be behind bars for a very long time.  While it is not possible to speculate on potential charges or sentencing, Mendoza’s apparent cavalier attitude towards getting behind the wheel while drunk, as shown in her “2 drunk 2 care” tweet, does not particularly help her case.

There are civil penalties for Mendoza as well as the bar which served her the drinks and the boyfriend who owned the vehicle she was driving, and a civil case has already been filed against them by family members of the victims.  Mendoza faces especially high civil liability because she was the driver of the car and she was highly intoxicated and possibly high.  The bar which served her alcohol, Tijuana Taxi Co., also faces civil penalties under the Florida Dram Shop law.  A Dram Shop law establishes liability for any bar or restaurant which furnishes alcohol to someone who injures another because they either served someone who was intoxicated or served someone alcohol who was underage.  In this instance, the bar which served Mendoza is liable under both parts of the law because Mendoza was underage and with a .15 BAC, it was also highly likely that she was visibly drunk.  Also, in Florida, Mendoza’s boyfriend, Javier Reyes, is also liable because he was the owner of the car and therefore held responsible for damages which occurred while Mendoza was driving.