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Why manslaughter charges were blocked in 2019 UPS shootout. Here’s what to know

By Reporting by Luisa Yanez. Produced with AI assistance
A UPS delivery truck, carjacked after a robbery in Coral Gables and involved in a police chase, at the scene after a shootout at Flamingo Road and Miramar Parkway in Miramar on Dec. 5, 2019.
A UPS delivery truck, carjacked after a robbery in Coral Gables and involved in a police chase, at the scene after a shootout at Flamingo Road and Miramar Parkway in Miramar on Dec. 5, 2019. CHARLES TRAINOR JR. ctrainor@miamiherald.com

A Broward County judge ruled that three Miami-Dade police officers cannot be prosecuted for manslaughter in a December 2019 shootout that killed a UPS driver and a bystander, who was a Pembroke Pines resident, on Miramar Parkway.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office says it will appeal the decision.

FULL STORY: No manslaughter charges against officers in UPS shootout in Miramar, judge rules

A police officer holds up crime tape at the scene of a shootout between robbers in a UPS delivery truck and police at Flamingo Road and Miramar Parkway in Miramar on Dec. 5, 2019. Four people were killed, including the robbers, a UPS driver who was taken hostage and a nearby motorist.
A police officer holds up crime tape at the scene of a shootout between robbers in a UPS delivery truck and police at Flamingo Road and Miramar Parkway in Miramar on Dec. 5, 2019. Four people were killed, including the robbers, a UPS driver who was taken hostage and a nearby motorist. CHARLES TRAINOR JR ctrainor@miamiherald.com

Here are key takeaways:

  • Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra ruled March 23 that officers Rodolfo Mirabal, Richard Santiesteban and Leslie Lee were justified in using deadly force under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
  • UPS driver Frank Ordonez, 27, of Miami, and motorist Richard Cutshaw, 70, of Pembroke Pines, were killed during a gunfight at the intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road. Both robbery suspects also died.
  • The shootout followed a high-speed, rush-hour chase after armed robbers hijacked Ordonez’s UPS truck during a jewelry store robbery in Coral Gables and kidnapped him. More than 200 rounds were fired by officers from several departments.
  • Ordonez was fatally shot as he tried to escape the truck’s cab. Cutshaw was sitting in his car nearby when he was killed.
  • Broward prosecutors argued Stand Your Ground protections should not apply when innocent bystanders are killed, saying the officers created unnecessary and deadly risk. The judge found prosecutors failed to prove the officers weren’t acting to protect lives.
  • A fourth indicted officer, Jose Mateo, had already been granted immunity on the same grounds. Broward prosecutors charged all four officers with manslaughter in 2021.

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.

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