{"id":321565,"date":"2026-06-27T06:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/321565\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T06:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:06:14","slug":"fort-lauderdale-hit-and-run-victim-was-retired-special-education-teacher-nbc-6-south-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/321565\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale hit-and-run victim was retired special education teacher \u2013 NBC 6 South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Fort Lauderdale woman killed in a hit-and-run crash<\/a> is being remembered for her big heart and generosity.<\/p>\n

Friends and family were all shocked by the sudden loss, and the suspected driver has now been charged with the crime.<\/p>\n

The woman killed is Shelley Lewis, 68.\u00a0Lewis was a special education teacher who worked with children with autism for years in Broward County.<\/p>\n

Flowers were left in memoriam by her family along the 17th Street Bridge in Fort Lauderdale, where Lewis was killed in a hit-and-run early Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cShelley was very warm and generous and thoughtful,\u201d said Elaine Fiore, a neighbor and friend. \u201cShe was a retired special ed teacher, she worked with children who had special needs and autism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis\u2019s friends and neighbors are in shock. They say she was an avid cyclist, loved the outdoors, and loved her garden, which she tended to almost daily at her apartment home along Davie Boulevard.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was super active, loved biking and going to the beach, walk, she was just really an important part of our community and very loving,\u201d Fiore recalled. \u201cEveryone is just kind of in shock and she is missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m empty right now,\u201d said Madge Baker, who lives one floor above Lewis. \u201cI think I\u2019m sick to my stomach knowing what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witnesses immediately called 911 after the hit-and-run occurred at around 6:40 a.m. Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

The suspected hit-and-run driver, Don Janea Smith, 22, is at the Broward County Jail. She is charged with failing to remain at the scene of a deadly accident and evidence tampering.<\/p>\n

Smith was arrested four hours after the crash, and police say her car was found 2.5 miles from the scene.<\/p>\n

Smith is currently being held on a $100,000 bond, which, if posted, will place her on house arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The situation is an absolute tragedy for everyone who knew and loved Lewis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in shock, I cried, I couldn\u2019t do nothing yesterday, it was a shock to me,\u201d said Anat Avram, one of Lewis\u2019s neighbors. \u201cIt\u2019s hard, it\u2019s so hard. It\u2019s so sad. I can\u2019t believe that I\u2019m not going to see her anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was always traveling, going to the keys to see the family or driving up to Melbourne to see her family,\u201d Fiore said. \u201cShe was extremely close with her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis grew up in Fort Lauderdale and worked at Mirror Lake Elementary School in Plantation as the special needs instructor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her family has requested privacy at this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fort Lauderdale woman killed in a hit-and-run crash is being remembered for her big heart and generosity.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-321565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}