With no regard for innocent bystanders, at least 20 South Florida cops fired a barrage of bullets towards two men who had hijacked a UPS truck following a jewelry store heist in 2019 – killing the two suspects along with the UPS driver as well as another man sitting in his car who had nothing to do with the robbery.
The shooting led to the indictments of four Miami-Dade police officers on manslaughter charges, but on Thursday, Sept. 18, a judge dismissed the case against one of the cops, Jose Mateo, citing Florida’s controversial stand your ground law which justifies using deadly force without a duty to retreat.
The shooting was captured on several videos, making national news, showing cops from four law enforcement agencies hiding behind the cars of innocent citizens as they fired away with multiple cars trapped in traffic between themselves and the suspects, unable to get out of the line of fire.
More than 200 rounds were fired by police within a 25-second span in what seemed like a scene out of a Hollywood action movie.
When the shooting had subsided, the UPS driver, Frank Ordonez, 27, had been killed another along with Richard Cutshaw, 70, a union representative who was shot in the back of the head by a bullet fired by police while sitting in his car.
Also killed were the two suspects, Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill, who had robbed the jewelry store and hijacked the UPS truck, leading police on a one-hour chase through two counties.Despite police shooting hundreds of rounds, Alexander died from a self-inflicted gun wound.
“He never stood his ground,” Ordonez’s stepfather, Jose Merino, told The Miami Herald.
“They all got out of their vehicles and started shooting, started firing.”
Ordonez was struck by five bullets, all fired by the four indicted cops. Cutshaw was struck by a single bullet fired by one of the cops.
Watch the video below.
The Judicial Decision
The incident took place on December 5, 2019 after Alexander and Hill held up a jewelry store in Coral Gables, a municipality in Miami-Dade County, robbing diamonds but also exchanging gunfire with the store’s owner, injuring a female employee.
The two men hopped in a U-Haul truck to make their getaway but then ditched it to hijack the UPS truck driven by Ordonez, sparking the pursuit that ended up in Miramar, a city in Broward County.
It was rush hour traffic and the UPS truck came to a standstill, unable to move along with dozens of other cars making their commute home.
Police claimed the suspects had fired first, making them fear for their lives which is why they had to fire so many rounds.
But an FBI forensic examiner testified there was no evidence that any of the bullets were fired from the UPS truck, according to the Miami Herald.
However, Broward Circuit Court Judge Ernest A. Kolla took the word of police that the suspects were firing at the officers which is why he determined they had the right to return fire despite placing the public at risk.
“Under Florida law, a person is justified using of threatening to use deadly force if they reasonably believe that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves or another, or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony,” Kolla wrote in his 8-page decision published Thursday.
Richard Diaz, attorney for Mateo, agreed with the judge, claiming the officer’s intention was to “save lives, plain and simple.”
“His and everybody else’s,” Diaz argued, a former cop for the Miami-Dade Police Department which is now known as the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
‘It’s Not Over Yet’
However, the Broward County State Attorney’s Office said it plans to appeal the decision as well as move forward with the cases of the three other indicted officers, Rodolfo Mirabal, Richard Santiesteban, and Leslie Lee, who have pleaded not guilty and have been on unpaid suspension from the department.
“It is our belief that Stand Your Ground immunity does not apply in matters involving innocent bystanders, like Frank Ordonez and Richard Cutshaw, who presented no danger to officers,” the state attorney’s office said in a statement to local media.
“In this incident, two innocent men were killed and the lives of numerous other innocent bystanders were endangered.”
The stand your ground law was signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005, and the defense initially sought to use it bar prosecution of George Zimmerman, who eventually was acquitted of murder charges after his 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black boy who was unarmed and simply walking through the neighborhood.
At this time, the other three officers facing manslaughter charges have not said they will also use the stand your ground defense but they likely will, considering it got Mateo cleared of criminal charges.
“I am elated to have been able to get this ruling from the court, which for decades will tell police officers and all of those who wear the silver badge that they can go to work in comfort knowing that Florida law will protect them for using any amount of force necessary… so long as it’s justified,” Diaz, Mateo’s attorney, told the Miami Herald.
Merino, meanwhile, is hopeful his family will eventually obtain justice.
“It’s not over yet,” Merino said. “Dec. 5 will be six years, and we still don’t have justice.”
Ordonez’s brother, Roy Ordonez, shared similar sentiments to WSVN-TV.
“If you really think that this is justifiable, to shoot 200 plus rounds in 25 seconds in a street full of civilians going home, if they think that this is what they’re trained to do, I’m scared for myself and the public going forward,” he said.
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