A DeBary mother will spend more than 10 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash on State Road 429 that killed her 4-year-old daughter and seriously injured another child. Caitlyn Nichole Swatkowski, 36, was sentenced to 127.65 months in state prison followed by four years of supervised probation.
Judges credited her with 675 days already served and designated four years of the prison term as mandatory.
What Happened on State Road 429
The single-vehicle crash happened Sept. 22, 2024, on State Road 429 in Apopka. Swatkowski's 4-year-old daughter was killed, and another child in the vehicle was seriously injured, the outlet's report states. Investigators built their case over the following weeks, and police obtained arrest warrants after an investigation into the crash.
Swatkowski was not taken into custody immediately. She was arrested Nov. 26, 2024, while attending an unrelated court hearing in Volusia County, the newspaper reported, more than two months after the fatal crash.
Charges Dropped, Victim Impact Statements Read
Prosecutors ultimately dropped four more serious charges against her: aggravated manslaughter of a child, vehicular homicide, child neglect, and reckless driving causing damage to property or a person.
How Florida Law Treats DUI Manslaughter
Florida law sets a mandatory minimum prison term of four years for a DUI manslaughter conviction.
Other Central Florida DUI cases have drawn lengthy sentences in recent years. A Volusia County man was sentenced to 47 years in prison for a high-speed DUI crash that killed a husband and wife, according to FOX 35 Orlando. In Palm Beach County, a defendant who was a dispatcher at the time of the crash was sentenced to more than 16 years after a 2023 wrong-way crash in Belle Glade killed one woman and injured two children, as reported by WPBF.
