Police Shootout Gone Wrong: UPS Driver Held Hostage, Ep 1

November 17, 2022·28 min·2 clips

The caller says a bullet went through her daughter's car seat during the Miramar Parkway shooting.

1. The Florida Files episode "Police Chase Gone Wrong" tracks the Miramar Parkway shootout that killed UPS driver Frank Ordonez and Rick Cutshaw. 2. Michelle Solomon narrates the case for Local 10, while Joe Marino, Lucy Ordonez, Tom Cutshaw, and Helen Kutschar explain why the event still matters to their families. 3. The episode asks how a Coral Gables jewelry-store robbery turned into a multi-agency chase, a hostage situation, and a fatal crossfire in Broward County. 4. Frank Ordonez sits at the kitchen table with his mother in Hialeah on Wednesday, December 4th, 2019, and plans Christmas with his two daughters. 5. Joe Marino says Frank was a UPS co-driver who covered routes when other drivers were sick or on vacation. 6. At about 4:14 p.m. on December 5th, 2019, two men disguised as postal workers are buzzed into Regent's Jewelers at 386 Miracle Mile. 7. Coral Gables Police Chief Dan Hudak says officers arrive within a minute and a half and exchange gunfire with the suspects near the store. 8. The suspects flee in a vehicle, abandon a U-Haul, and carjack a UPS truck with Frank at gunpoint. 9. Local 10's live coverage shows the truck trapped in traffic on Miramar Parkway near buses, cars, and storefronts. 10. Witness video shows police crouching behind civilian cars while bullets strike the UPS truck and smoke pours from the cab. 11. Frank's stepfather Joe Marino says Frank appears to crawl toward the passenger side and try to get under the truck for cover. 12. Helen and Tom Cutshaw describe watching the chase on television before learning that Tom's brother Rick was one of the people shot. 13. The episode says Rick Cutshaw was 70 and was stopped at a light when stray bullets hit him. 14. The FBI's George Pirro says the suspects, Lamar Alexander and Jerome Ronnie Hill, stole more than $27,000 in jewelry. 15. Pirro adds that one suspect fired inside the store, ricocheted a round into an employee, and then fled through multiple jurisdictions. 16. The report says 20 officers from four agencies fired in the final scene, including officers from Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Florida Highway Patrol, and Miami-Dade Police. 17. Joe and Lucy say they still do not have autopsy reports or answers about which bullets killed Frank. 18. The tone mixes live-news urgency, family grief, and broadcast footage from Sky 10, cell phones, and press conferences. 19. Listeners interested in South Florida crime and police accountability will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a light, neatly resolved crime story should skip it.

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