Family and friends of a Maryland man who was killed in a skateboard accident in Fort Lauderdale are honoring his memory.
Taylor Rudolph said her brother, Joey Czaplinski, “was truly the most amazing person” and was loved by many. He was known to be on a boat or a motorcycle and always living his life to the fullest.
Czaplinski had recently moved to Fort Lauderdale from Maryland and was bartending at McSorley’s and Con Murphy’s on the beach.
He died early Tuesday morning after falling off his electric skateboard and then being struck by a car on AIA and Sunrise Boulevard.
“My family is devastated. I can’t even put it into words,” Rudolph said. She and the rest of his family are now back in Maryland, trying to figure out how to move forward.
“The process is ridiculously expensive to move a body from one state to another, so we’re just trying to take it hour by hour to figure out what we’re going to do,” Rudolph explained.
Fort Lauderdale police are not calling this a hit-and-run. Rudolph said a detective told the family that the car police believe hit her brother was impounded, but police would not confirm those details with CBS News Miami.
Now the family hopes Czaplinski is remembered for his big personality, not the tragic way he died.
“He was witty and funny and sarcastic,” Rudolph said. “He was a funny life of the party person and that’s how he deserve to be remembered by, nothing less than that.”
Czaplinski leaves behind four children.
