FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - One person has died and two others were injured after, officials said, the driver of an SUV went off Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale and slammed into a wall at a nearby cemetery, causing the vehicle to burst into flames.
Florida Highway Patrol and Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the crash along the northbound lanes, just south of Sunrise Boulevard, at around 5:30 p.m., Sunday.
According to FLFR officials, a car veered off the highway, barreled through the gate of the cemetery and hit a wall.
Officials said the impact caused the vehicle to catch fire, trapping the driver inside.
Cellphone video recorded by a witness caught a group of good Samaritans pulling the victims out of the burning SUV.
Maria Moore, the woman who recorded the cellphone video, said the good Samaritans who had stopped to help did all they could.
“They were so upset that they didn’t get the driver out of the car in time, and no one could get to him,” Moore said. “He was alive, and they had him by the hand, and they couldn’t get him out because his legs were stuck.”
One of the good Samaritans, known to those in the area as Coach Johnny, said he was working nearby at the time of the crash, and he went to render aid.
“Well, I went running because after a crash like that, I knew something was bad,” he said. “Immediately after he hit the wall, I was there. [The driver] was looking me in the face and nothing I can do. That was horrible. That was a frightening situation.”
The driver, identified by FHP as 82-year-old Jean Marcellis, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members believe the 82-year-old was cut off, causing him to lose control.
Mistere Dacius, the victim’s cousin, said the cellphone video of the good Samaritans trying to help pull his family members out is hard to watch.
“Oh, I see the video. It’s very terrible because the fire is, like, full,” Dacius said. “Oh, man, I cannot see it.”
“You would want someone to help you if you were in that situation,” said one witness.
Officials said the two other occupants inside the SUV were Marcellis’ daughter and granddaughter. Paramedics transported one of them to Broward Health Medical Center as a trauma alert.
The third victim refused transport.
Marcellis’ wife has spent her time since the crash surrounded by family and loved ones, and while she is mourning her husband’s loss, she is grateful he did not die alone.
“Thank you because they helped him to go out to save their life, but only one passed away, but she said, ‘God giveth, God taketh,'” Dacius said on behalf of Marcellis’ wife.
“[The good Samaritans] saved two other lives in this, and it could have easily been three,” said the woman who recorded the cellphone video.
FHP is still investigating why the SUV ran off the road and landed in the cemetery.
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