An 82-year-old man died after troopers say his SUV drove off Interstate 95 and caught fire after it slammed into a wall at Fort Lauderdale’s historic African-American cemetery.
The crash happened late Sunday afternoon, just south of Sunrise Boulevard, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The wall in Woodlawn Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale where one person died and two were injured after an SUV lost control on Interstate 95 in Broward County and crashed there, Sunday, March 1, 2020, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Joe Cavaretta South Florida Sun Sentinel
Troopers say Jean Aphantiel Marcelus of Fort Lauderdale was driving north on I-95 when he suddenly veered to the right and crashed through a chain link fence at North Woodlawn Cemetery, 1936 NW Ninth St.
His red 2005 Acura eventually crashed into one of the cemetery’s concrete walls and quickly caught fire, trapping Marcelus and his two passengers inside.
Cellphone video obtained by WSVN shows good Samaritans, some with fire extinguishers, rushing to help. One man is seen dragging a young girl away while others help a woman out of the burning SUV.
Marcelus did not survive. Troopers say he died in the crash from his injuries. The conditions of the other two in the car are unknown.
An SUV caught fire after it slammed into a wall at Fort Lauderdale’s historic African-American cemetery Sunday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Google Street view
“He was alive, and they had him by the hand, and they couldn’t get him out because his legs were stuck,” the woman who recorded the video told WSVN.
The crash left a hole in the cemetery’s wall. It’s unclear if any of the graves were damaged.
Troopers say they are still working to determine what caused the crash.
This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 11:56 AM.
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription
