FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Two men are facing hit-and-run charges after state troopers said, while driving separate vehicles, they both fled the scene of a deadly crash on Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale.
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The wreck, involving two vehicles and two motorcycles, happened in the early-morning hours of May 23, 2024 near Sunrise Boulevard.
A little more than a year after the crash, Florida Highway Patrol troopers took suspects Matthew James Golfin, 40, of Boca Raton, and Jeffrey Scott Adler, 60, of Fort Lauderdale, into custody on Thursday.
The crash
FHP arrest warrants state that Golfin was driving a 2018 Chevorlet Suburban with North Carolina plates when he rear-ended a man on a BMW motorcycle, knocking him off the bike,
Troopers said Adler, driving a 2016 Porsche Boxster, then ran over the motorcyclist ― who would be pronounced dead at the scene.
Officials redacted his name from the arrest warrants. On the day of the crash, he was described by an FHP spokesperson as a 36-year-old Tamarac man.
According to the court documents, a witness told troopers that Adler stopped on the side of the road, and, when the witness told him that he had hit someone, Adler said, “Oh my God.”
The witness told troopers that after she said she and Adler weren’t safe on the side of the road and suggested they move their vehicles, the woman moved further up the road, but Adler went home.
A second motorcyclist, a 43-year-old Pompano Beach woman, “could not stop or slow down” for the first motorcyclist lying in the road and hit him and got knocked off her motorcycle. She suffered “mangled legs,” troopers said.
Clues at scene
Investigators said vehicle parts left at the scene allowed them to narrow in on the make and model of each suspect vehicle.
The warrants state that investigators then used license plate reader data to identify the specific vehicles in question and their registered owners: the Suburban to a man who knew Golfin and the Porsche to a man who lives with Adler.
Troopers said the Suburban owner told investigators over the phone that he had received a 3 a.m. text message from Golfin that the SUV had been stolen.
“Then, when (he) woke up, he called (Golfin), whom (sic) advised that he had hit something and he needed to get the car fixed,” Golfin’s arrest warrant states.
Authorities said the Suburban owner told him to take the SUV to a Pompano Beach body shop.
Witness speaks
“Once (the Suburban owner) was notified of the crash investigation, he immediately contacted FHP to advise them of the location of the vehicle,” Golfin’s arrest warrant states.
Troopers said they then received a call from a woman who said she was sleeping in the back seat of the Suburban, a business vehicle, at the time of the crash and was with two other passengers.
She told investigators that Golfin had been drinking at the now-defunct Salt 7 restaurant and bar in Fort Lauderdale and at her house and was “impaired” at the time of the crash, saying she was “scared” of Golfin “being very aggressive and scary” as he drove on I-95, at one point telling him to pull over.
“(The woman) said she called (Golfin) after the crash to see if he would turn himself in,” Golfin’s warrant states. “(She) said that (Golfin) was going to have (the Suburban) get fixed.”
The woman, a longtime coworker, told troopers that Golfin “knows that he has a drinking problem and is probably also on drugs.”
Suspects interviewed
Meanwhile, authorities went to Adler’s home in the 1600 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue just before 11 a.m., a little less than eight hours after the crash, and saw the damaged sports car.
Troopers said they interviewed Adler, who told them that he was headed home from having dinner at a friend’s house but had not been drinking that night.
According to Adler’s arrest warrant, he told investigators that he believed he hit an object on the road and when he pulled to the shoulder, “he asked (the witness) what happened and she did not answer,” leading him to go home.
Authorities said surveillance video evidence showed Adler and the woman conversing with one another, contradicting his claim.
Adler would later tell troopers that he “saw the crash” on the news “and he assumed that he hit debris from (it),” leading him to file an insurance claim, authorities said.
Authorities said they interviewed Golfin at an Oakland Park bar and interviewed him at around 4 p.m.
The warrant states that Golfin said he “freaked out” after the crash and eventually went and slept on the beach. Golfin said he told staff at the body shop he “he hit something on the roadway” as he tried to get the Suburban fixed.
Men face charges
Both Golfin and Adler are facing charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving death and tampering with physical evidence and appeared in court separately Friday.
During Adler’s appearance, the victim’s girlfriend testified, “They took my boyfriend, they took a father, they took a brother, they took a son. This man was everything, he was my life and they broke my heart.”
“This has been the worst year of my life,” she said. “These people ripped my life apart. And his mother and his twin brother and his other brothers and all the people that loved him. This man had over 300 people at his funeral.”
Golfin, who has a history of DUI and traffic offenses, was ordered held on a $100,000 bond, while Adler was ordered held on a $65,000 bond.
Both were in the Broward Main Jail as of Friday afternoon. If released, both will have to submit to electronic monitoring.