MIAMI – The Miami-Dade Police Department said Monday it expects four of its officers to be indicted by a grand jury in the fatal shootings of a UPS driver and a bystander during a 2019 shooting.
The UPS controller, Frank Ordonez, 27, died in a confrontation between the police and two carjackers. The shooting broke out in the middle of a busy road in the Broward County town of Miramar.
On December 5, 2019, Ordóñez was taken hostage by two men, Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill, who stole his truck after robbing a Coral Gables jewelry store. They led police on a high-speed chase from Miami-Dade County to Broward County.
The pursuit ended when the UPS truck encountered heavy traffic at an intersection on Miramar Parkway.
The police got out of their vehicles and approached the truck with guns drawn, using the vehicles of passers-by as cover.
Seconds later, a hail of gunfire rang out. A total of 20 officers, from different agencies, fired at the stolen UPS truck. More than three dozen rounds of ammunition were fired.
The suspects, Alexander and Hill, were killed, along with Ordonez and a bystander, Richard Cutshaw.
Ordóñez's family wants the officers involved to be held accountable.
“Justice is not in our vocabulary right now because we've lost a civil suit and an appeal … and we're waiting for a grand jury that hasn't given us a date. So there's no justice, as far as we're concerned .,” said Joe Merino, Ordonez's stepfather.
The Police Benevolent Association issued a statement on Monday saying it was “extremely disappointed that after almost five years, these officers are now facing charges for something they had seconds to decide”.
“It sends a chilling effect to Broward County officers, 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,” the statement continued. “As the process progresses, we will monitor it and defend our officers.”
The officers expected to be named in the indictment have not yet been identified.
CBS Miami team
