VERO BEACH, Fla. — A Palm Bay woman sits in the Indian River County Jail and is accused of being impaired and a habitual offender when she killed a man with her car and fled the scene early Sunday, according to the Vero Beach Police Department.
"Her driver's license shows she's a habitual traffic violator in the state of Florida," Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey said of Shanice Person, 24, of Palm Bay. "The habitual is obviously just that it's somebody that hasn't learned their lesson, to be honest with you."
He said Person has gone from minor traffic violations to facing charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving death and driving while license revoked causing death. The arrest report noted she had a strong smell of marijuana and her eyes were bloodshot red when interviewed.
The affidavit states that Person admitted that she had two cups of Patron at a local bar and that she smoked weed.
At 3:19 a.m., officers responded to the area of Indian River Boulevard and the base of the Merrill Barber Bridge.
"We had a witness driver call us," Curry said. "That person witnessed a person being struck by a vehicle. As we arrived on scene, we had a deceased male."
The victim was Jhovany Edgardo Diaz Rojas, 39, of Vero Beach.
The driver and vehicle that allegedly hit and killed him were long gone.
"From our radio traffic, the Indian River County Sheriff's Office assisted us and stopped that vehicle with three females in it," he said.
When questioned, Person admitted that she had two cups of Patron Tequila at a local bar and she had smoked marijuana.
She initially denied driving the car but later changed her story.
Person was being held in jail on a $70,000 bond.