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The four Miami-Dade police officers who had been charged in connection with the death of UPS driver Frank Ordoñez, a Cuban, and the driver of a private vehicle during a shootout with jewelry store robbers in Coral Gables on December 5, 2019, turned themselves in on Monday.
Richard Santiesteban, José Mateo, and Leslie Lee each face a charge of manslaughter. Meanwhile, Rodolfo Miramar has been charged with two similar counts for the deaths of the Cuban Ordoñez and 70-year-old Richard Cutshaw, who was driving home. Both were caught in the crossfire between the officers and the thieves, reported Telemundo 51.
The agents had been charged earlier this month, four and a half years after the armed robbery of the Regent jewelry store in Miracle Mile and the hijacking of the UPS truck by the assailants. These events culminated in a dramatic police chase and a shootout in which two innocent bystanders and the robbers lost their lives.
The Ordóñez family filed a civil lawsuit against the authorities, but in August 2022, a judge in Broward County ruled that they did not have the right to sue due to sovereign immunity.
After it became known that the four agents would be tried in a criminal process, Luz Apolinario Merino, Ordóñez's mother, stated via telephone to América TeVé: “There was no need for this to happen, and for my son and that man to lose their lives…”
The anguished mother stated that she is "hoping for a fair trial, that each judge present that day places their hand on their heart and feels the pain I experienced as a mother who lost her child. I saw him die on television."
Joe Merino, Ordóñez's stepfather, told the news channel that the accusation against the police is “surprising after four and a half years” and emphasized: “Finally, there is some progress. I won’t say there is justice yet because I still can’t see justice at the end of that tunnel.”
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