FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A judge is hearing the second day of arguments in the case of an officer involved in a shootout with armed robbers that left an innocent UPS delivery driver dead six years ago, with the officer citing Florida’s “stand your ground law” in his defense.
Harrowing video captured on body cameras worn by responding officers, including suspended Miami-Dade Police Officer Jose Mateo, was reviewed in court Tuesday and depicted the moments officers fired on a UPS truck during rush hour on Dec. 5, 2019.
The body camera footage stirred up great emotions as members of the Ordonez family were seen visibly distraught as they were escorted out of the court room by the bailiff.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen that video. It’s surprising, it’s heartbreaking and it’s just a hard pill to swallow,” said Joe Merino, Frank’s stepfather.
Mateo, one of the four Miami-Dade Police officers indicted, now faces a manslaughter charge in the death of the UPS driver, Frank Ordonez.
“They had the intelligence. They could’ve waited five minutes and you should’ve had the negotiator. I am sure that a negotiator would’ve probably released Frank,” said Merino.
Detectives said 41-year-old Lamar Alexander and 41-year-old Ronnie Jerome Hill robbed the Regent Jewelers store in Coral Gables before hijacking the UPS driven by 27-year-old Ordonez and led police on a multi-county chase that ended near the intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road.
That’s when gunfire broke out, fatally striking Ordonez and civilian Richard Cutshaw.
Crime scene photos showed Cutshaw’s 2009 Grand Marquis back window shattered by a single bullet.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said law enforcement officers fired more than 200 rounds and had been told not to get close to the truck because the suspects were reportedly firing.
Judge Ernest Kollra is now allowing Mateo to make the defense that his actions that day were justified under Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
“Police officers would have to decide, do I want to end up getting indicted like Scot Peterson for not acting, or do I want to end up getting like officer Mateo for acting,” said Richard Diaz, the attorney for Jose Mateo.
Scot Peterson is the Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy that was charged and acquitted for his alleged inactivity during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting.
However, prosecutors are arguing that the “stand your ground law” does not apply in Mateo’s case because he was not defending himself against an aggressor but an innocent bystander, like Ordonez.
Prosecutors also played an aerial video of the entire pursuit and shooting, to which they hope will solidify their case and prove Mateo was not firing in self-defense.
During Tuesday’s hearing, a FDLE agent took the stand and was cross-examined by the defense, who focused on how dangerous the robbers were and argued that the circumstances didn’t allow for the officers to react any differently.
Multiple bystanders also took the stand describing the events of that day.
“There were cops in pursuit and that’s when I heard gunshots which originated from the UPS truck,” said Cory Harbison, a bystander during the shootout. “It was a pretty terrifying moment.”
“I told my mother, ‘Please sit back, sit back, we got to get up out of here, we got to get up out of here,” said Yolanda Barbary, another bystander who was trapped in the intersection just as the shooting began.
Police body camera video showed officers running past her truck near the intersection.
She said she saw the guns and the suspect in the UPS truck, who she initially believed was the driver, when she attempted to escape.
“You were afraid that the male, meaning the male in the UPS truck, was going to shoot you, correct?” she was asked.
“No, not shoot me. The UPS person in the truck and the officer, that’s what was going through my head, was gonna have crossfire and we were right in the middle of it,” she said.
Direct and cross-examinations are expected to continue throughout the afternoon.
If the judge sides with Mateo and throws his case out under “stand your ground law,” it remains unclear how that would apply to the other three officers that were charged in this case.
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