FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida judge on Thursday cleared a police officer of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a UPS driver who had been taken hostage during a 2019 robbery.

Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra ruled that Jose Mateo, who had been charged with manslaughter in the death of UPS driver Frank Ordonez, could not be prosecuted because Florida’s so-called “stand your ground” law justified the shooting, the South Florida SunSentinel reported.

Ordonez, 27, had been delivering packages in Miami-Dade County on Dec. 5, 2019, when police said two would-be jewelry store robbers abducted him and forced him to drive from the scene. A rush-hour police chase ended at a busy intersection in neighboring Broward County.

Prosecutors said Mateo fired the shots that killed Ordone

See Full Page