Hanover police officer charged with motor vehicle homicide in fatal Brockton hit-and-run

A Hanover police officer is facing a homicide charge for allegedly striking a pedestrian with an SUV in Brockton and leaving him to die Sunday night.

Thomas Hayes, 36, is charged with motor vehicle homicide by a negligent operator and leaving the scene of personal injury or death, court records show. He was arraigned Tuesday in Brockton District Court and pleaded not guilty.

The victim, Alfredo Alves, 23, was found unresponsive early Monday morning near the intersection of Battles Street and Cross Street, according to a Brockton police report filed in court. He was taken to Boston Medical Center South, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Hayes was off duty at the time of the incident and allegedly hit Alves following a day of drinking with his friends, Stephen Bruning and Michael Cattaneo. He was driving a 2022 Ford Explorer SUV registered to Bruning’s wife when the collision occurred, according to court filings.

Bruning told police that he, Hayes, and Cattaneo were at another friend’s house in Avon to watch a Daytona 500 race Sunday, according to the police report. At around 7:30 p.m., they left to go to the Boardroom Cabaret, a strip club in Brockton, where they stayed for about two hours.

The three men were drinking at the friend’s house and at the Boardroom Cabaret, according to the report. As they left, Bruning took a nicotine pouch and became too nauseous to drive home.

Hayes drove home instead, and — about six minutes after the men left the Boardroom Cabaret — he allegedly hit something. Bruning, who was riding in the passenger seat, told investigators that he didn’t see what they hit, but felt the vehicle jolt and saw that the windshield was damaged, police wrote in court filings.

Bruning told Hayes to stop, but he allegedly insisted that they hit a snowbank and told him that they would deal with it when they got home. Bruning also mentioned that Hayes was “taking sharp turns and was driving in a generally aggressive manner,” according to the police report.

When the three men arrived back at Hayes’ house, Bruning noticed additional damage to the front of the vehicle. He left the car there, traveled home with Cattaneo, and later went to the Brockton Police Department with his wife and brother, who is a State Police trooper, according to court filings.

Cattaneo told investigators that he believed Hayes struck a snowbank but heard Bruning ask if they had hit a person, according to the police report. Just after 7 a.m. Monday morning, Hayes was arrested, and officers noticed that he smelled of alcohol, police wrote.

Investigators later obtained surveillance video of Hayes’ home from his phone which showed the damage to the SUV, according to court filings. Surveillance footage from the Boardroom Cabaret showed the three men leaving and Hayes getting behind the wheel.

Hayes posted an initial $10,000 bail but was held Tuesday after he failed to post the $15,000 bail ordered at his arraignment. He is due back in court for a hearing March 31.

Hayes, who became a full-time Hanover police officer in 2014, has since been placed on administrative leave, The Boston Globe reported. His attorneys, James Milligan Jr. and Joseph Higgins III, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.