FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Heading home to Boynton Beach late Sunday on Interstate 95, twins Marcasia and Markwonda Crenshaw made a fateful decision to help a motorist in distress.
Minutes later, 25-year-old Marcasia Crenshaw was dead, struck and killed as she tried to run out of the path of a pickup swerving in the southbound lanes of the highway as the driver attempted to stop, according to investigators.
Markwonda Crenshaw, who ran in the opposite direction, said she barely avoided being hit herself.
"I got out of the way quickly," said Markwonda. "She ran left, I ran the other way.
"When I turned around, she was in the grass. I was touching her, trying to wake her up. But she wouldn't move."
The tragedy unfolded Sunday night just outside of Titusville in Brevard County. The twins and their two young children were returning from a weekend visit to Jacksonville.
Marcasia was at the wheel of a Nissan Rogue, Markwonda said.
They decided to pull over when they spotted a vehicle "stopped in the inside lane, air bags out, emergency lights on, and smoking," said Markwonda Crenshaw. "We pulled over to make sure everyone was OK. Who wouldn't?"
In the sisters' vehicle, which was parked in front of the disabled van, were their two children: Marcasia's 5-year-old son and Markwonda's 2-year-old daughter. Both were asleep in their car seats.
Troopers said the disabled vehicle that caught the sisters' eye was a Dodge Sprinter driven by Yuri Kosolapenko, 23, of Jacksonville. He had been involved in an earlier crash, according to a Florida Highway Patrol crash report.
After the twins got out of their car to help Kosolapenko, another driver, Dalton Vancor, 23, of Deatsville, Ala., at the wheel of a 2004 Chevrolet pickup truck, "attempted to aggressively brake and swerve left to avoid" the Dodge Sprinter, the crash report said.
Marcasia Crenshaw tried to run toward the grass median but the right side of the truck hit her, troopers say.
Kosolapenko and Vancor were not injured in the crash.
"This was a selfless act," said Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Kim Montes. "They chose to stop to help somebody. They probably didn't realize how much they put their lives at risk."
The twins had been in Jacksonville visiting their mother, Judy Riley.
On Monday, Markwonda Crenshaw, Riley, the two children and other relatives remained in Cocoa Beach awaiting information from the Brevard County medical examiner on Marcasia's death.
Normally, the sisters would have returned to work Monday, Markwonda as a dental assistant, Marcasia in a Lake Worth-area hotel.
Markwonda said she and her sister were rarely apart. Originally from Boynton Beach, they went to high school in Jacksonville, shared an apartment in Tallahassee while attending college and then moved back to Boynton Beach in 2012, Markwonda said.
"I can't eat, can't sleep, crying, I'm just in disbelief," Markwonda said. "Honestly, I am trying to be strong, because I have the kids."
The crash remains under investigation.
