BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — A police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in connection with a 2019 shootout in Miramar that left a UPS employee and another victim dead.
Jose Mateo was charged with manslaughter in the case, but a Broward County judge cleared him of wrongdoing Thursday morning, citing Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
Body-worn camera footage that was played in court during a stand your ground hearing for Mateo shows the officer’s pursuit of the UPS truck as his partner is in the passenger seat with his long gun drawn.
The video then shows the moment Mateo approaches the armed subjects inside the UPS truck, opening fire and emptying his clip, reloading, and then pulling UPS employee Frank Ordonez’s body away from the vehicle.
This happened while Mateo was serving as an officer with what was then the Miami-Dade Police Department. He is currently suspended.
In court earlier this month, rideshare passenger Jahrue Lyttle testified to seeing shots fired from the UPS truck first.
His driver, state witness Deverne Donovan, testified the complete opposite, saying it was officers who fired first.
Ordonez and another innocent driver, Rick Cutshaw, lost their lives during the hail of gunfire after 20 officers opened fire.
It was a pursuit and shootout that has been described by responding officers as fluid, where they were forced to make split second decisions, while the state argued that at times, they didn’t follow policy.
Other officers charged in the shootout are expected to file their own stand your ground motions in the case.
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