FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2026) — Fort Lauderdale Police have identified the man killed in an early-morning traffic incident near Sunrise Boulevard and Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, also known as A1A, as Joseph Czaplinski, a 40-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident.
The death remains under investigation by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department’s Traffic Homicide Unit. Police said Czaplinski was not a spring breaker, a detail released as the city manages heavy seasonal beach traffic and crowds during March.
Officers were first called to the area at about 3:38 a.m. Tuesday, March 10, after receiving a report of a person on the ground along Sunrise Boulevard near A1A. When officers arrived, they found an adult male in the roadway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At first, police said the circumstances were unknown. A day later, the department released a preliminary account of what investigators believe happened.
According to Fort Lauderdale Police, the pedestrian was an adult male on a skateboard who fell off the board and into the roadway. Police said that moments later, a vehicle struck him while he was lying in the road. The injuries were fatal.
That vehicle has not been located.
Investigators said they are attempting to find the driver and vehicle involved, but at this stage it is still unknown whether the case will ultimately be classified as a hit-and-run. That distinction matters because police are still working through the sequence of events, the driver’s awareness, and what evidence supports any charging decision. For now, the department is treating it as an active fatal traffic investigation.
The location sits at one of the most visible gateways to Fort Lauderdale beach, where Sunrise Boulevard meets A1A and traffic patterns shift between beach travel, late-night activity, and local commuter routes. The Traffic Homicide Unit, which handles fatal and serious traffic investigations for the department, responded after the body was discovered and took over the case.
Police formally identified the victim in an update issued March 11, naming him as Joseph Czaplinski, born Feb. 24, 1986. The department said he lived in the city of Fort Lauderdale.
The department has also released 911 calls connected to the incident. Those calls are now part of the public record as investigators continue piecing together what happened in the minutes before the fatal impact and whether anyone nearby saw the skateboard fall, the vehicle, or the aftermath.
For residents, drivers, and anyone who was in the beach area that night, the key point is simple: police are still looking for witnesses and still trying to identify the vehicle involved. Anyone who saw a man on a skateboard near Sunrise Boulevard and A1A around 3:38 a.m., or who saw a vehicle strike a person in the roadway, is being asked to contact police immediately.
The case remains open. The next step is the same one it has been since the initial call came in before dawn: investigators are working to identify the vehicle, determine the driver’s role, and establish whether criminal charges, including a possible hit-and-run count, are supported by the evidence.
Boca Post primarily reports Boca Raton news, but major law enforcement incidents across Florida are also covered when they carry broader public safety implications for South Florida communities.
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