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Teen who livestreamed crash that killed sister pleads no contest

Fatal crash livestreamed
Teen who livestreamed fatal crash speaks out 02:45

LOS BANOS, Calif. -- A California teen has pleaded no contest to charges she was driving drunk while livestreaming the crash that killed her younger sister. The Fresno Bee reported Tuesday that 19-year-old Obdulia Sanchez pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and child endangerment charges along with several enhancements.

Sanchez was driving a car that veered onto the shoulder of a road on July 21 in central California. Authorities say she overcorrected, causing the vehicle to swerve and overturn, ejecting and killing her 14-year-old sister.

Prosecutors say Sanchez livestreamed on Instagram while driving and the video shows her taking her hands from the steering wheel.

Obdulia Sanchez
Obdulia Sanchez seen in a police booking photo. Merced County Sheriff's Office

The recording shows her after the crash, leaning over her lifeless sister.

"Wake up baby, I'm f**king sorry baby," she says. "I did not mean to kill you sweetie."

The livestream was recorded from Instagram and posted on Facebook by someone who had seen it.

Stockton resident Mary Hernandez said she saw the video there and reposted it.

"People need to know these things can happen," Hernandez said, adding that she had gotten a range of responses from anger to gratitude.

"I mean no disrespect to their family for posting it," she said. Hernandez said she knew about Obdulia Sanchez through social media but they never met in person.

She entered her plea in Merced County Superior Court, about 120 miles south of San Francisco.

Speaking to CBS affiliate KGPE from jail in August, Sanchez said it wasn't the first time she had livestreamed while driving. 

"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," Sanchez said. 

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