Miami-Dade cop cleared for 2019 UPS truck shootout under Stand Your Ground law, judge rules

Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald on Sep 18, 2025

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MIAMI — A Broward County judge on Thursday dismissed the case against a Miami-Dade police officer — charged in the deaths of two innocent bystanders, including a UPS driver, during a 2019 shootout at a busy intersection — citing Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.

Broward Circuit Court Judge Ernest Kollra ruled in favor of suspended officer Jose Mateo, who had argued that Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law barred his prosecution. Kollra’s decision came after prosecutor Charles Morton and Mateo’s attorney Richard Diaz sparred about evidence in the case during two weeks of hearings.

Mateo, 33, and three other Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputies — Richard Santiesteban, 40, Leslie Lee, 58 and Rodolfo Mirabal, 39 — were indicted on manslaughter charges in June 2024. All pleaded not guilty and all have been suspended without pay. UPS driver Frank Ordóñez, 27, and Rick Cutshaw, 70, were killed in a hail of gunfire in the packed intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road during the afternoon rush hour.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office said it was reviewing the judge’s order when asked for comment.

In the eight-page order, Kollra determined that Mateo was justified in his use of force because he acted to prevent death or injury. The judge also said prosecutors failed to establish that Mateo’s use of force wasn’t reasonable or justified.

The events of Dec. 5, 2019, began with ex-cons Lamar Alexander’s and Ronnie Jerome Hill’s bungled attempt to rob Regents Jewelers at 386 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. Hill and Alexander, dressed as couriers, then hijacked the UPS truck driven by Ordóñez — with the driver still in it.

That ignited a high-speed chase across Miami-Dade and Broward counties— and the shootout that ended with Hill, Alexander, Ordóñez and Cutshaw dead.

“Here, there is no question that (Mateo) was responding to a threat initiated and continued by two armed convicted felons... who did not cease this mass shooting event until they were neutralized,” Kollra said in the order.

During the proceedings, Morton played body camera footage that showed more than a dozen officers getting out of their cruisers and immediately shooting toward the truck. Video from a helicopter captured the chase that led to the shootout; at one point, a dispatcher warned police that “shots [had] been fired” and said the robbers had a gun to Ordóñez’s head.

There was also no evidence that any of the bullets were fired from the truck, according to the FBI forensic examiner’s testimony. However, a bystander and several police officers said they saw several bullets fly from the truck.

When one of the Miami-Dade deputies who fired his weapon was asked by Mateo’s attorney if he believed he was being shot at, the deputy responded, “One hundred percent. Absolutely.”

Kollra, in the order, concluded that body camera footage and testimony from multiple witnesses confirmed that Hill and Alexander “started, continued and chose to fire first at anyone that came near the UPS truck.”

During the hearings Diaz argued that Mateo was attempting to protect the community by firing his weapon.

“[Mateo’s intention was to] save lives, plain and simple.” Diaz said. “His and everybody else’s.”

Barrage of bullets

During the hearings, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent who investigated the shooting testified 20 officers fired up to 219 rounds during the mayhem.

Santiesteban emptied two 23-round capacity magazines and could have fired up to 44 rounds. Mateo fired up to 18 rounds from his department-issued Glock 17, according to FDLE. The magazine holds up to 17, and he had one round in the chamber, the agent testified.

The officers were charged after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement identified five bullets from Ordóñez’s autopsy. Two linked to back to Santiesteban, and the rest to Mateo, Lee and Mirabal. A single bullet was recovered during Cutshaw’s autopsy. That one was tied to Mirabal, the report states.

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(Miami Herald staff writer David Goodhue contributed to this report.)