FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Over four years after a fatal police-involved shooting in Broward County, Miami-Dade Officer Leslie Lee who was involved in the shooting surrendered to Broward Sheriff’s Office correctional deputies on Saturday after three of his colleagues surrendered on Friday.
On Sunday, during This Week In South Florida, Steadman Stahl, the president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill — and not the four Miami-Dade police officers indicted were to blame for the tragedy on Dec. 5, 2019, near Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road, in Miramar.
“They went into a jewelry store in Coral Gables, in Miracle Mile of all places, and went in guns blazing and shot a store employee in the head,” Stahl said. “They then went in a multi-county chase, shooting at police officers.”
Stahl said the Broward State Attorney’s Office persuaded a grand jury to indict Lee, 57, and Officers Richard Santiesteban, Jose Mateo, and Rodolfo Mirabal, who is facing two counts of manslaughter with a firearm. The other three are each facing one count of the same charge. They were released without having to post bail after their surrender.
“Deciding whether to use deadly force is among the most serious and consequential decisions a police officer can make,” Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in a statement. “We understand that these decisions are often made during intense and uncertain circumstances.”
After the Regent Jeweler heist, Alexander and Hill, both 41, fled in a U-Haul van and abandoned it before they kidnapped Frank Ordonez, a UPS driver, during the carjacking of his UPS truck.
“When they stole the truck, if they weren’t going to do any more harm, they could have taken that driver and pushed him out, and just taken the car,” Stahl said. “They knew what they were going to do. They were going to commit all kinds of savagery.”
Florida Highway Patrol troopers and police officers with the Miami-Dade, Pembroke Pines, and Miramar departments chased after the armed burglars and their kidnapping victim until traffic forced them to stop.
Stahl said Mirabal, 39; Santiesteban, 33; Mateo, 32; and Lee did what they were supposed to do.
“Every single officer, each one of them, there is 20 of them, each one is responsible for neutralizing that threat until the gunfire stops — each one of them and that’s what they did,” Stahl said.
The shootout was in the middle of rush hour. Four died: Ordonez, 27, the kidnapping and carjacking victim; Richard Cutshaw, an innocent bystander on his way home; and the two armed burglars.
“The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an extensive investigation of the officers involved in the shootings and their circumstances,” Pryor said in a statement.
The FDLE submitted their findings to the State Attorney’s Office on Sept. 15, 2021.
”Given the enormity of the gunfire in this incident at an extremely busy intersection packed with civilian motorists and pedestrians, we presented these agencies’ findings to the grand jury,” Pryor said in a statement.
The grand jury indicted Mirabal for the deaths of Ordonez, a father of two girls, and Cushaw, 70, a union representative who was born in Massachusetts.
“There could have been more if those guys would have gotten out of that truck, and here was a Chick-fil-A, a CVS, there was cars around there. You could have had multiple, more hostages,” Stahl said. “These guys were not going to end it. And the family that is upset, I get it. It’s misplaced anger. The devils were the two robbers that had long histories ... one had just gotten out of prison after doing 20 years ...
“These guys were not going to end peacefully.”
MORE ON THIS WEEK IN SOUTH FLORIDA
- Interview with Steadman Stahl, the president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, about the recent indictment of four Miami-Dade police officers for their actions during a fatal shooting in 2019.
- Interview with Lori Alhadeff, the mother of 14-year-old Alyssa, one of the students killed during a mass shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Her activism after the tragedy includes serving as a member of the Broward County School Board, and founding Make Our Schools Safe.
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Local 10 News Reporters Bridgette Matter and Annaliese Garcia, and Assignment Desk Planning Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.