A Miami-Dade man who drove a Tesla Cybertruck at 97 mph through a red light and killed a mother of two just days before Christmas last year was sentenced on Friday to six and a half years in prison, followed by eight and a half years of probation, after the victim's family confronted him in court — and one relative told him she forgave him.
Source: WPLG Local 10
Dayron Ramirez Mesa had pleaded guilty in the December 2025 crash that killed Dayana Abreu Perez at the intersection of Southwest 122nd Avenue and Southwest 56th Street, in the Kendale Lakes area of southwest Miami-Dade County. Standing before her family on Friday, November 13, he asked for forgiveness through a translator.
Source: Miami Focal
“I want to ask for forgiveness from the entire family of Dayana,” Ramirez Mesa told the court. “I wouldn't have ever wanted that accident to happen.” He said he would carry the pain and the consequences of the crash for the rest of his life.
What happened on Southwest 56th Street
Investigators said Ramirez Mesa was driving the Cybertruck at 97 mph in a 40-mph zone when he ran the red light at Southwest 122nd Avenue and 56th Street and struck Perez's vehicle. Video from the scene captured the moment the truck slammed into two cars, according to court reporting on the case.
Source: Miami Focal
The Cybertruck's own data recorder became central evidence: it showed the truck travelling at 97 mph three seconds before impact — more than twice the posted limit — according to the arrest report cited by NBC 6 South Florida. Ramirez Mesa, who was 21 at the time of the crash, surrendered to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office in February 2026, weeks after the December crash.
Source: NBC 6 South Florida
Forgiveness in the courtroom
Perez's relatives described her as a loving mother whose two children were too young to attend the hearing and will now grow up without her. One of her cousins told Ramirez Mesa directly that she held no hatred toward him. “I forgive you,” she said.
Source: Miami Focal
After the sentence was imposed, family members approached him holding a photograph of Perez and spoke to him face to face. “I hope this is a lesson for you,” one relative said through a translator. “Not only did you finish Dayana's life, but an entire family — her children are just out of themselves.”
Six and a half years in state prison, followed by eight and a half years of probation, imposed on Friday, November 13, 2026, after Ramirez Mesa pleaded guilty in the December 2025 death of Dayana Abreu Perez.
His defense attorney, Eric Medini, said the case had weighed heavily on both families. “I can tell you this is eating him alive, and his family too,” Medini said. “They're two good families that were ruined by this. This was a long time coming for this resolution.”
Source: Miami Focal
Why this case struck a nerve in Miami-Dade
The sentencing closes a case that has come to symbolise the deadly mix of extreme speeding and impaired driving on Miami-Dade's roads, where a driver travelling at nearly two and a half times the limit left two young children without their mother days before Christmas. For the thousands of professional drivers who cross Miami-Dade daily — including the many Punjabi truckers who run Florida freight corridors — the case is a stark reminder of how a few seconds of reckless driving can end lives and freedom alike.
What happens next is already set: Ramirez Mesa will serve his six-and-a-half-year prison term first, and the eight and a half years of probation will follow his release. With Friday's hearing, the criminal case against him is closed.