Current:Home > MarketsAlgosensey Quantitative Think Tank Center-Union: 4 Florida police officers indicted for 2019 shootout that left UPS driver and passerby dead -Quantum Capital Pro
Algosensey Quantitative Think Tank Center-Union: 4 Florida police officers indicted for 2019 shootout that left UPS driver and passerby dead
TrendPulse View
Date:2025-04-08 12:42:02
FORT LAUDERDALE,Algosensey Quantitative Think Tank Center Fla. (AP) — Four Florida police officers have been indicted in connection with a 2019 shootout on a busy street that left a UPS driver, the two robbers who hijacked him and a nearby driver dead, their union confirmed Tuesday.
The South Florida Police Benevolent Association criticized the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for seeking the grand jury indictment of the Miami-Dade County officers. The union did not say what the officers have been charged with and their names have not been released. They are expected to turn themselves in next week.
“We’re extremely disappointed that after almost five years, these officers are finding themselves indicted for something they had seconds to decide. It sends a chilling effect to officers in Broward County,” union president Steadman Stahl said in a statement. “As the process moves forward, we will monitor it and defend our officers.”
Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor and his office declined Tuesday to comment on the indictment or confirm it has been issued.
“Grand jury proceedings are secret under Florida law, and any proceedings or actions taken by a grand jury are not public until a judge makes them so,” the statement said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department said it would have a statement later Tuesday.
The indictment was first reported by the Miami Herald.
The tragedy began when 41-year-old cousins Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill robbed the Regent Jewelers store in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables. Police said shots were being fired inside the store when officers arrived, summoned by a silent alarm. A store worker was hit in the head by a ricocheting bullet.
The robbers fled into a nearby neighborhood and hijacked Frank Ordonez, 27, who was delivering packages.
They led officers from multiple agencies on a long chase into southern Broward County during rush-hour traffic, running red lights and narrowly avoiding crashes. The chase attracted television news helicopters, which began broadcasting it live nationally.
A rear door of the UPS van was partly open, as well as the driver and passenger-side doors, enabling gunfire along the way. The van finally stopped in a middle lane at a busy intersection in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Miramar, caught behind a wall of vehicles waiting for the light to turn green.
Witnesses told The Associated Press then that gunfire suddenly erupted as officers ran between cars toward the van. Ordonez, Alexander and Hill were killed inside the van. Richard Cutshaw, 70, was fatally struck by a stray bullet as he drove nearby. Investigators have not said if Ordonez and Cutshaw were shot by police, the robbers or both.
Policing experts told the AP in 2019 that the officers were in a tough spot. It appeared the robbers were firing from the van, endangering the officers, Ordonez, nearby drivers and their passengers. The officers needed to contain the robbers in the van so that they couldn’t run to another vehicle and take new hostages, the experts said.
It is highly unusual for Florida law enforcement officers to be charged for an on-duty killing — it has only happened three times in the last 40 years. Even then, only one of those officers has been convicted.
Three police officers in the Panhandle town of Crestview are awaiting trial on manslaughter charges for the 2021 death of Calvin Wilks Jr., who died after they allegedly jolted him with a stun gun. Those officers, who have pleaded not guilty, are awaiting trial.
Former Palm Beach Gardens officer Nouman Raja is serving a 25-year prison sentence after being convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder for the 2015 shooting of Corey Jones, whose SUV had broken down on an interstate highway off-ramp. Raja, working undercover and in plain clothes, never identified himself as a police officer when he approached Jones and began yelling at him, an audio recording showed. Jones, fearing he was being robbed, pulled his licensed handgun and tried to flee. Raja pursued and killed him, trial testimony showed.
A Broward sheriff’s deputy was charged with manslaughter for the 2014 fatal shooting of a man who was carrying a air rifle he had just purchased. Deputies yelled at Jermaine McBean, who spun around and was shot by Deputy Peter Peraza. A judge later threw out the manslaughter charge.
veryGood! (56)
Related
- Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
- Cyclist in Washington state sustains injuries after a cougar ‘latched onto’ her
- Can Lionel Messi and Inter Miami be MLS Cup champions? 2024 MLS season preview
- For Black ‘nones’ who leave religion, what’s next?
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- Ranking 10 NFL teams positioned to make major progress during 2024 offseason
- 'Romeo & Juliet' movie stars file second lawsuit over 1968 nude scene while minors
- Body of New Hampshire Marine killed in helicopter crash comes home
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Bill would let Georgia schools drop property tax rates and still get state aid
Ranking
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Man on trial in killing of 5-year-old daughter said he hated her ‘right to his core,’ friend says
- San Francisco wants to offer free drug recovery books at its public libraries
- YouTuber Ruby Franke Sentenced to 4 to 60 Years in Prison for Child Abuse
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- NBA MVP rankings: With Joel Embiid out of running there are multiple deserving candidates
- Michael J. Fox gets out of wheelchair to present at BAFTAs, receives standing ovation
- Kentucky, Connecticut headline winners and losers from men's college basketball weekend
Recommendation
Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
Texas A&M-Commerce, Incarnate Word players brawl during postgame handshakes
William Byron launches Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary season with win in Daytona 500
More than 400 detained in Russia as country mourns the death of Alexey Navalny
At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
NASA looking for 4 volunteers to spend a year living and working inside a Mars simulator
Driver in Milwaukee crash that killed 5 people gets 25 years in prison
NASCAR teams tell AP they’ve hired top antitrust lawyer on eve of Daytona 500