Crash ends chase
Fleeing suspect shot by deputy, report says
FORT LAUDERDALE — With a bandage covering a gunshot wound on his right arm, Michael A. Mainolfi stood at a bond court podium Thursday to hear multiple charges the Broward Sheriff’s Office will present to prosecutors after they say he knocked down a detective with his car.
Broward County Judge Michael Davis called the charges “very serious,” adding, “I’m very concerned about the safety of the community.”
Davis ordered a $162,500 bond and said if Mainolfi leaves jail, he will be subject to house arrest and pretrial GPS monitoring.
An outstanding warrant for theft and fleeing lawenforcement charges brought
Mainolfi to the attention of Det. Franklin Castor on Wednesday, when Mainolfi is accused of trying to made a break for it again, according to court documents.
The arrest attempt left both men injured after Mainolfi’s open car door pushed Castor to the ground and the detective fired his gun and struck Mainolfi’s arm, the sheriff’s office said.
“The subject chose a path of resistance and backed his vehicle not only into the
deputy’s vehicle, but struck our deputy,” Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said Wednesday.
Det. Brann Redl joined Castor and saw Mainolfi, 51, of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, walk to his 2012 white Ford Focus sedan that was parked in the 4200 block of North Ocean Drive.
Castor walked up to the Focus, its engine running, and ordered Mainolfi to step out and get on the ground. Castor reached inside the car to try to remove Mainolfi, who swung his arms and kicked at Castor to avoid arrest, Redl wrote in a complaint affidavit.
Mainolfi backed the Focus up and the open driver’s door hit Castor, who fired his gun once, according to Redl.
Wounded in his right upper arm, Mainolfi continued driving in reverse, Castor fell to the ground and the Focus crashed into Castor’s police car, moving it several feet, the report states.
Mainolfi drove south on Bougainvilla Drive, leading a 5-mile, U-shaped chase that continued parallel to the ocean, onto a busy commercial boulevard in Oakland Park and along North Federal Highway before
ending with a bang in a parking lot in Fort Lauderdale.
Redl followed in his unmarked patrol car, with lights flashing and sirens blaring. The Focus drove south along North Ocean Drive and ran red lights and over a construction barrier on its way to East Oakland Park Boulevard, according to the report.
The Focus made several U-turns and traveled west in eastbound lanes of the boulevard, eventually reaching North Federal Highway. It traveled north, turned at Northeast 48th Street into the parking lot of Holy Cross Hospital and crashed into two parked cars, the sheriff’s office said.
Mainolfi was taken into custody, treated at the scene and taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, the report states. Castor was taken for treatment at Broward Health Imperial Point, also in Fort Lauderdale. The men’s injuries were not lifethreatening, officials said.
In bond court Thursday, Assistant Public Defender Faisal Afzal asked that photographs be taken of Mainolfi’s injuries.
Mainolfi works for an electrical contractor, according to court testimony. He was arrested on suspicion of committing aggravated battery with a deadly weapon; resisting an officer with violence; reckless driving; having a driver’s license that was expired more than six months; and aggravated fleeing with injury or damage.
Assistant State Attorney Eric Linder sought a bond of $160,000. Linder said there were two occasions when Mainolfi allegedly fled law enforcement and that he was twice arrested on suspicion of failing to appear in court.