Judge cites ‘stand your ground’ law in clearing 3 more Florida officers in shooting of a UPS driver
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida judge on Monday cleared three more police officers of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a man. UPS driver taken hostage during a robbery in 2019.
Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra ruled that Miami-Dade police officers Richard Santiesteban, Leslie Lee and Rodolfo Mirabal, who are charged with manslaughter in the death of UPS driver Frank Ordonez, cannot be tried because Florida’s “stand your ground” law justifies the shooting. The same judge cleared the officer José Mateo In September for the same reason.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office said it would appeal all four decisions.
“Immunity from prosecution is not the same as a defense presented to a jury from this community,” the state attorney’s statement said. The statement was included. “We believe that Stand Back immunity does not apply to matters involving innocent bystanders, such as Frank Ordonez and Richard Cutshaw, who posed no danger to police officers. In this incident, two innocent men were killed and the lives of many innocent bystanders were endangered.”
Cutshaw was also killed by gunfire that afternoon.
Ordonez, 27, was delivering a package in Miami-Dade County on Dec. 5, 2019, when police said two would-be jewelry store robbers kidnapped him and forced him to flee the scene. A rush-hour police chase at a busy intersection in neighboring Broward County is over.
Prosecutors said Mateo fired the shot that killed Ordonez. Two robbers and a passerby were also killed in a shooting at an intersection in Miramar, Florida.
Footage from the body camera shown in court showed Mateo following the UPS truck that afternoon. His partner was seen in the passenger seat with a long gun drawn. The video also shows Mateo approaching the UPS truck. He emptied his firearm, reloaded it, and then removed Ordonez from the vehicle.
The judge ruled that the officers had reason to believe that deadly force had to be used to end the confrontation.
Four police officers have now been suspended from duty.
