Four Florida police officers have been charged with manslaughter in connection with a 2019 shootout with suspects who hijacked a UPS vehicle that left a UPS driver and a passerby dead.
The Broward County Prosecutor’s Office announced Saturday that a grand jury has indicted Miami-Dade County Police Officer Rodolfo Mirabal, 39, on two counts of negligent homicide with a firearm in connection with the Dec. 5, 2019, deaths of UPS driver Frank Ordonez, 27, and nearby driver Richard Cutshaw, 70.
Officers Jose Mateo, 32, Richard Santiesteban, 33, and Leslie Lee, 57, have been charged with negligent homicide with a firearm in Ordonez’s death but have not been charged in Cutshaw’s death.
Mirabal and Mateo are still employed by Miami-Dade Police, but Lee retired three years ago and Santiesteban was fired, the release said. Miami Herald.
South Florida police officer kills UPS driver in shootout, 3 others placed on administrative leave: Report
Four Florida police officers have been charged with manslaughter in the 2019 deaths of a UPS driver and a passerby in a shootout with a hijacker. (AP Photo/Bryn Anderson)
None of the officers have been charged in the deaths of the hijackers, cousins Lamar Alexander, 41, and Ronnie Jerome Hill, 41.
More than a week after the indictments were issued, the officers turned themselves in to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office on Friday and Saturday and were released without bail.
If convicted, the officers face up to 30 years in prison.
Broward County Attorney Harold Pryor said the years-long state investigation and months of grand jury proceedings were necessary “to ensure answers are given to the victims’ families and the community.”
“The decision to use lethal force is one of the most serious and critical decisions an officer can make,” Pryor said in a statement. “We understand that these decisions are often made under stress and uncertainty.”
Miami-Dade Police previously said in a statement that they “respect the legal process.”
Robber killed in Florida UPS truck hijacking leads to shootout with police identified
No police officers have been charged in connection with the deaths of the two hijackers. (Taymie Alvarez/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via The Associated Press)
The union representing the officers criticized the indictment last week.
“We are extremely disappointed that after nearly five years, our officers have been charged with what should have been a decision that could have been made in seconds,” Stedman Staal, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement. “This has a chilling effect on Broward County police officers.”
The shootout occurred during rush hour on a street outside Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after a pursuit involving multiple police agencies.
About 20 police officers were at the scene, but it was unclear how many of them fired at the hijacker, who was firing at officers during the pursuit.
Alexander and Hill allegedly robbed a Regent Jewelers store in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables and were firing shots inside the store when police arrived, wounding a store employee who was hit in the head by a ricochet bullet.
The robbers fled the store and hijacked Ordonez, who was delivering a package nearby, before leading police on a lengthy chase into southern Broward County, where they fired shots at officers while Ordonez was still in the van.
Kidnapped UPS driver, passerby and jewelry store robbery suspect killed in Florida highway rush hour shootout
Two hijackers, a UPS driver and a passerby were killed in the shootout in December 2019. (Charles Traynor Jr./Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Click here to get the FOX News app
The suspects became trapped by a wall of vehicles at a red light and eventually came to a stop in the center lane of a busy intersection.
A shootout began as officers ran between the vehicles toward the van. Alexander, Hill and Ordonez were found dead inside the van, and Cutshaw was found dead inside the vehicle.
Investigators have not said whether Ordonez and Cutshaw were shot by police, the suspect or both.
Florida police officers are rarely charged with murder in the line of duty, with only three such cases in the past 40 years, and only one officer ever convicted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
