JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville woman was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for fleeing a scene after fatally striking a man in February.
Kaylyn Lowdenslager was sentenced in the crash death of 42-year-old Gerald "Jerry" Daniels on Feb. 26. Daniels was fixing a tire of another vehicle on the side of the I-10 ramp near I-295 around 11:40 a.m. on Feb. 26.
Prosecutors read a statement from Daniels' mother. She said no words could capture the heartbreak and loss she deals with every day. She said Jerry was the glue that held the family together.
Daniels' daughter told the court her father was someone she could always go to and a "someone who was always there for the people he cared about." She said she never got to say goodbye.
"He had so much life ahead of him and we had so much time to share," she said.
Daniels' father told the court their lives have been changed forever.
"My life and the lives of every who loved Jerry have been devastated beyond repair," he said. "Never again will we be able to hold and hug our son, or simply hang out with him."
The arrest report said Daniels was fixing a tire of a commercial motor vehicle parked in front of his truck on the painted apex of I-295 travel lanes and the ramp for I-10 eastbound when he was struck by Lowdenslager.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers were able to get a suspect description from witnesses, but said Lowdenslager left the scene on foot, the report said. Officers learned she sent a Facebook message to the vehicle's owner stating it was "messed up." She was injured in the crash.
When officers arrived at her residence, she told them she was not driving the vehicle. Officers found 5.9 grams of MDMA, 8.36 grams of "a purple powder" believed to be carfentanil, and small bag containing fentanyl.
Lowdenslager asked for forgiveness and she sincerely regretting her mistake on Friday.
"I take full responsibility for my actions, all I ask for is forgiveness and I am so sorry," she said.
Lowdenslager has credit for 270 days of time served.
