Innocent motorist caught in Miramar shootout crossfire was union rep Rick Cutshaw
The innocent bystander killed in the crossfire between police and jewelry store robbers in Miramar has been identified as Richard “Rick” Cutshaw, a 70-year-old union representative from Pembroke Pines.
The Broward County medical examiner’s office confirmed Cutshaw was one of the victims in the shooting. Don Slesnick, a lawyer for the union where Cutshaw worked, said Cutshaw had just left his office in Miramar before being killed.
“He was going home,” said Slesnick, a former Coral Gables mayor, who represents the Government Supervisors Association of Florida. “The president of the union told me he couldn’t believe it. ... He had just talked to him.”
Cutshaw was trapped in rush-hour traffic at the intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road on Thursday as gunfire erupted between two robbers who hijacked a UPS truck and more than a dozen police officers.
The driver of the UPS truck, 27-year-old Frank Ordonez, was held hostage by the two robbers and killed in the firefight. Both robbers, Lamar Alexander, 41, and Ronnie Hill, 41, were also killed.
Cutshaw was a representative with the Miramar office if the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 100 for the last 18 years, the office said in a statement. Previously, he served with the UFCW Local 1459 in Massachusetts.
“Rick was a true professional who cared deeply about the working people he represented,” OPEIU Vice President and Local 100 President Greg Blackman said in a statement. “I never saw him without a big smile on his face, always willing to do whatever it took to improve the lives and working conditions of our members.
Slesnick said Cutshaw represented about 2,500 employees in his work as a full-time union executive, joining him in talks with Broward executives for contracts. He said Cutshaw enjoyed a long career working for labor organizations in the area, and that a part of his job was representing government workers in the Naples area as well.
Slesnick described Cutshaw as a fun person to work with, who had a good sense of humor and took his work seriously.
“He was professional enough not to take it so personally to be ineffective. But he certainly believed in what he did,” Slesnick said. “And his whole person was in his job. He took people’s problems to heart.”
One of the people he represented, Loree Jackson, wrote on Facebook that Cutshaw was a kind and supportive union representative.
“He was one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. Always kept his cool. Always had a smile. And always had time to listen to us,” she wrote. “Mr. Cutshaw, you will be missed.”
His next-door neighbor in SilverLakes, Maria Guzman, said she knew Cutshaw and described him as a “very, very, very nice person.”
“He always said hello to people,” Guzman said.
Guzman said she’s lived at the address for 25 years and Cutshaw was one of the first to move into the neighborhood after her. She said he lived at that address for about 18 years and that he lived alone.
“I saw everything about what happened on the TV last night,” Guzman said. “You’d never think it would happen to him, my God.”
He was just a few years from retirement. “It was on the horizon,” said his sister-in-law, Helen Cutshaw.
She said he is survived by five brothers and sisters and his 99-year-old mother, who lives out of state. The family plans to hold private services for him, and his union is dedicating its next meeting in his honor.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 3:08 PM.
