MIAMI.- Four Miami-Dade police officers were formally charged in connection with a shooting in which a UPS driver and a passerby lost their lives, as well as two alleged kidnappers, in events that occurred at a busy Broward County road intersection in 2019.
In December of that year, UPS driver Frank Ordóñez was taken hostage by two men, Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill, who hijacked his delivery truck after robbing a Coral Gables jewelry store.
A high-speed police chase immediately began from Miami-Dade to Broward County, which ended at an intersection on Miramar Parkway, where officers fired their weapons at the occupants of the vehicle.
A total of 20 officers from the Miami-Dade, Pembroke Pines, Miramar and Florida Highway Patrol police agencies were involved in the shooting. A preliminary investigation revealed that around 200 bullets hit the UPS truck.
In the exchange of bullets between the police and the antisocials, passerby Richard Cutshaw, a person who was driving his vehicle in the area of the incident, also died.
Since then, Ordóñez’s relatives have been asking for justice. Joe Meriño, stepfather of the dead driver, commented that a civil lawsuit and its respective appeal were denied. “There has been no justice, as far as we are concerned,” he said.
The identities of the uniformed men who were indicted by a grand jury have not been revealed.
For its part, the Police Benevolent Association issued a statement on Monday in which the organization said it was “extremely disappointed that after almost five years, these officers find themselves accused of something they had seconds to decide.”
“The fact that the State Attorney’s Office prosecuted an officer for failing to respond to an active shooter and now charges officers for responding to active shooters sends a chilling effect to Broward County deputies,” the statement continued. “As the process moves forward, we will monitor it and advocate for our officers.”
A few hours after the tragic case, stepfather Meriño told DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS that “Frank was a noble child. A child because, although he was 27 years old, for me he will continue to be the child I raised since he was eight years old. He was a homely child, who neither smoked, nor drank, nor used drugs. His only goal was to work, work and work for his daughters.”
It is still unknown when the officers involved in this case will be called to trial.
