Three Miami-Dade cops charged in UPS truck shootout argue immunity at hearing
Three Miami-Dade police officers who were charged in the death of a UPS driver during a 2019 shootout at a busy intersection are arguing that their cases should be dismissed under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Suspended Miami-Dade police officers Richard Santiesteban, 35, Leslie Lee, 59, and Rodolfo Mirabal, 40, began presenting their cases for immunity on Monday before Broward Circuit Court Judge Ernest Kollra.
The officers, along with their colleague Jose Mateo, 33, were indicted on manslaughter charges in June 2024. They pleaded not guilty and have been suspended without pay.
UPS driver Frank Ordóñez, 27, and Rick Cutshaw, 70, were killed after a botched Coral Gables jewelry store heist led to the carjacking of the UPS truck and its driver, a high-speed Interstate chase across Miami-Dade and Broward and a hail of gunfire at the traffic-packed intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road during the afternoon rush hour.
During the weeks-long hearing, prosecutors will need to prove that Santiesteban’s, Lee’s and Mirabal’s use of force wasn’t justified.
However, how the judge will likely rule isn’t shrouded in mystery. Last September, Kollra found that the Stand Your Ground law barred Mateo’s prosecution. Kollra’s ruling came after two weeks of hearings.
The Stand Your Ground law allows a person — and police officers — in the state to take up to deadly action if they feel their life is threatened. The fleeing felon law allows police to shoot at a suspect if they believe that person is a danger to society while trying to avoid custody.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade cop cleared in UPS truck shootout under Stand Your Ground: judge
The Broward State Attorney’s Office appealed Kollra’s ruling to the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
“Immunity from prosecution is not the same as a defense presented to a jury from this community,” the state attorney’s office said. “It is our belief that Stand Your Ground immunity does not apply in matters involving innocent bystanders, like Frank Ordonez and Richard Cutshaw, who presented no danger to officers. In this incident, two innocent men were killed and the lives of numerous other innocent bystanders were endangered.”
Chaos during rush hour
The suspended 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.
Accotrding to the FDLE, investigators determined 20 officers fired up to 219 rounds during the mayhem. Also killed that day: Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill, two ex-cons whose exploits that day began with a bungled attempt to rob a Coral Gables jewelry store.
Hill and Alexander then hijacked the UPS truck driven by Ordóñez — with the driver still in it. That ignited a high-speed chase — and the shootout that ended with Hill, Alexander, Ordóñez and Cutshaw dead.
This story was originally published February 2, 2026 at 2:02 PM.
