A Lauderhill police officer was fired this week after authorities say he seriously injured a motorcyclist in a Davie hit-and-run, then lied to investigators about the crash.
Thomas Edward Manfredi, 33, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and making a false police report, according to an arrest warrant. He was terminated Wednesday.
A little after 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, Davie Police responded to a call about a crash between a motorcycle and a green Jeep, according to the warrant. A witness told officers that he was driving northbound on South University Drive behind the motorcycle when he saw the Jeep fail to yield to oncoming traffic and make a left turn in front of the motorcycle. The motorcyclist crashed into the left side of the Jeep, which then left the scene, last seen entering the nearby Solle apartment complex.
The motorcyclist, Juan David Gasper Gonzalez, was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital with a compound leg fracture that required surgery, according to the warrant. He was then placed on ventilator.
On Wednesday morning, Davie police officers went to the Solle apartment complex in response to a call from Manfredi, who lives there. He told them that his Jeep had been damaged “at an unknown date and time” and that he had discovered the damage that day and wanted to document it for insurance reasons, according to the warrant. The Jeep was missing a tail light.
Manfredi told the officers that he had gone to the nearby Tijuana Taxi restaurant with his girlfriend the night before and did not notice any damage to his car when he returned to the apartment. His girlfriend noticed the damage the next morning. He “did not recall being involved in a crash,” the warrant says, but instead told officers that his Jeep was struck by another vehicle while it was parked.
When officers went to the scene of the hit-and-run crash, they found car parts that matched the Jeep, including pieces of a tail light, according to the warrant. They also found surveillance footage that showed Manfredi and his girlfriend leaving the restaurant on Tuesday night just before 11:30 p.m. with no damage to the Jeep and then entering the apartment complex a few minutes later with damage to the Jeep.
Police connected Manfredi to the crash. Lauderhill Police also became aware of the investigation on Wednesday and fired him the same day. Manfredi had been hired in August 2025 and was still on probation, according to the agency.
A warrant for Manfredi’s arrest was issued on Thursday.