Fort Lauderdale, Florida. — Four Florida police officers have been charged with manslaughter in connection with a 2019 shooting on a major rush-hour street, which killed a hijacked UPS truck and a passerby in a neighboring car.
Broward County prosecutors announced Saturday night that a grand jury indicted Miami-Dade County officer Rodolfo Mirabal, 39, on two counts of manslaughter with a firearm in the deaths of 27-year-old UPS driver Frank Ordonez and Richard Cutshaw, a 70-year-old union negotiator who was driving nearby on December 5, 2019.
Officers Jose Mateo, 32, Richard Santiesteban, 33, and Leslie Lee, 57, were charged with manslaughter with a firearm in connection with Ordonez’s death. They were not charged with Cutshaw’s death. None of the police are charged in the deaths of the hijackers, 41-year-old cousins Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill.
Mateo and Mirabal are still working with Miami-Dade police. The Miami Herald stated that Lee resigned three years ago and Santiesteban was sacked.
According to Florida law, manslaughter is an unlawful killing done while displaying “culpable negligence,” which is defined as an act that indicates a “wanton or reckless disregard for human life.”
If convicted, the officers risk a maximum term of 30 years, which is unlikely given that they are first-time offenders. On Friday and Saturday, the four surrendered to the Broward Sheriff’s Office and were freed without bail.
The indictments were issued more than a week ago but kept secret until the police surrendered. Monday night, news of the indictments leaked.
The indictments follow a four-year investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The gunfight occurred during rush hour on a major street in suburban Fort Lauderdale, following a lengthy pursuit by various police agencies. About 20 law enforcement personnel were present, although it is unclear how many opened fire on the hijackers, who had been shooting at authorities during the pursuit.
Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said in a statement that the extensive state probe and months-long grand jury sessions were necessary “to ensure we get answers for the victims’ families and the community.”
“Deciding whether to use deadly force is among the most serious and consequential decisions a police officer can make,” Pryor stated. “We understand that these decisions are often made during intense and uncertain circumstances.”
Pryor and his prosecutors did not explain in their statement or in court filings how the indicted officers’ behavior differed from the others. They declined further comment on Sunday.
There are no lawyers named for the police in court documents.
The South Florida Police Benevolent Association, the officers’ union, did not return a phone call or email requesting comment early Sunday. The union had earlier published a statement criticizing the indictments.
“We are obviously upset that these cops have been indicted after nearly five years for something they could have decided in seconds. It has a chilling effect on police in Broward County,” union president Steadman Stahl said in a statement last week.
Miami-Dade police did not immediately respond to a phone message left early Sunday. The department has stated that “it respects the legal process.”
The catastrophe began when Alexander and Hill looted the Regent Jewelers store in Coral Gables, a Miami neighborhood. When authorities arrived, there were rounds fired inside the store. A store worker was struck in the head by a ricochet but survived.
The robbers escaped and grabbed Ordonez, who was delivering packages nearby.
They led officers on a lengthy pursuit across southern Broward County, running red lights and narrowly missing collisions. The chase drew television news helicopters, which began broadcasting it live nationwide.
The hijackers opened fire from inside the van, which eventually came to a halt in the middle lane of a busy junction, trapped behind a wall of automobiles at a red light.
Witnesses reported that gunfire erupted as officers dashed between cars toward the van. Ordonez, Alexander, and Hill were killed in the van. Cutshaw was discovered dead in his automobile. Investigators have not confirmed whether Ordonez and Cutshaw were shot by police, robbers, or both.
Policing experts warned in 2019 that the officers were in a difficult situation. It looked that the criminals were shooting from the van, endangering the officers, Ordonez, neighboring drivers, and their occupants. The authorities needed to keep the thieves in the van so they couldn’t flee to another vehicle and take more hostages, according to the experts.
It is extremely unusual for Florida law enforcement officials to be charged with an on-duty killing, which has occurred only three times in the last 40 years. Even then, just one of the cops has been convicted.
Three police officers in the Panhandle town of Crestview are awaiting trial on manslaughter charges in the death of Calvin Wilks Jr. in 2021, after he was allegedly shocked with a stun gun. The officers who have pleaded not guilty are awaiting trial.
Former Palm Beach Gardens officer Nouman Raja is serving a 25-year jail sentence after being found guilty of manslaughter and attempted murder in the 2015 killing of Corey Jones, whose SUV had broken down on an interstate highway off-ramp.
Raja, who was working undercover and in plain clothes, never identified himself as a police officer when he approached Jones and started shouting at him, according to an audio recording. Jones, afraid he was being robbed, pulled out his legal firearm and attempted to leave. Raja chased and killed him, according to the washingtontimes.com.
A Broward Sheriff’s deputy was charged with manslaughter in the 2014 fatal shooting of a man carrying an air rifle he had recently purchased. Deputies yelled at Jermaine McBean, who turned around and was shot by Deputy Peter Peraza. A court later dismissed the manslaughter accusation.