State Cop Shoots at Minivan Full of Kids

[LAGC]

TAOS, N.M. (KRQE) - A simple traffic stop turned into a wild scene with a 14-year-old rushing a state cop, a high-speed chase and another officer firing at a fleeing minivan full of kids.

Now the driver and her son are facing charges while New Mexico State Police are investigating the officers involved.

It all started Oct. 28 on a state highway south of Taos. A State Police officer pulled over Oriana Ferrell's minivan for going 71 mphr in a 55 mph zone. In the minivan with her were her five kids. The Taos News reports the children range in age from 6 to 18.

On dash cam video released to KRQE News 13 Friday you can see Ferrell and the officer argue after Ferrell couldn't decide whether to pay the $126 fine or contest it in court. The officer instructs her to turn her vehicle off and stay put before walking back to his car.

http://www.krqe.com/news/crime/state...n-full-of-kids

She shouldn't have drove off, but that doesn't justify the violent police response -- one of the kids in there could have easily been killed.

Cops needs to chill the fuck out instead of play Rambo all the time.

"Measured response" is the order of the day.

That is all.

[Richard Simmons]

Plenty of fault to go around. Seems that none of this would have occurred if A. The mother had observed the posted speed limit and B. She simply agreed to pay the fine or show up in court. Everything else and I mean everything else that followed was a direct result of A & B.

[LAGC]

Perhaps so, but what if one of the kids had been killed by that reckless cop?

Since when does a traffic stop justify lethal force? "Leaving the scene" and "simple eluding" are misdemeanor offenses at best.

While she did engage in felony eluding (during the high-speed chase), that was AFTER the cop tried to kill her.

There should be protocol for these kinds of stops. Cops shouldn't be able to escalate like that unless there is clear and present danger.

Not for every case of a scared and belligerent mother.

[TEN-32]

Wow...the reporters laid plenty of bias down in their slanted report. The mother was a jack wad. The 14 year old son was bigger than some of the cops and very froggy. The initial officer never really had control of the situation. Use of force was completely justified. Use of deadly force was completely unjustified.

[Richard Simmons]

Perhaps so, but what if one of the kids had been killed by that reckless cop?

Since when does a traffic stop justify lethal force? "Leaving the scene" and "simple eluding" are misdemeanor offenses at best.

While she did engage in felony eluding (during the high-speed chase), that was AFTER the cop tried to kill her.

There should be protocol for these kinds of stops. Cops shouldn't be able to escalate like that unless there is clear and present danger.

Not for every case of a scared and belligerent mother.

Sorry, I was just focusing on the facts. If you want to go with "what if's" then what if she had just driven the speed limit, what if the 14 year old gotten the officers gun and killed him with it? Everything the police did was a reaction to what the woman and her children did or didn't do. So the police shouldn't be able to escalate a traffic stop but the person being pulled over can? If the woman and her children simply did the right thing, at any time then all this could have been avoided.

[LAGC]

Sorry, I was just focusing on the facts. If you want to go with "what if's" then what if she had just driven the speed limit, what if the 14 year old gotten the officers gun and killed him with it? Everything the police did was a reaction to what the woman and her children did or didn't do. So the police shouldn't be able to escalate a traffic stop but the person being pulled over can? If the woman and her children simply did the right thing, at any time then all this could have been avoided.

Refusal to follow orders = death sentence.

Got it.

[TEN-32]

Refusal to follow orders = death sentence.

Got it.

Oh come on...nobody died Lefty.

If Obama had a son...

[alismith]

Oh come on...nobody died Lefty.

If Obama had a son...

His initials would be LAGC.

[Richard Simmons]

Refusal to follow orders = death sentence.

Got it.

Of course not. Obviously no one died or was even shot so let's not be melodramatic. I believe the one officer was shooting at the tires. Is that acceptable procedure under his departments guidelines? I don't know. It's something I was instructed not to do. I could just as easily ask if trying to disarm a police officer = death sentence. The only think I can and will contribute to this thread is my opinion that there is fault on both sides and that the events transpired as they did due to poor choices that were made by both sides but first and foremost by the "victims". Nothing that the police did that "could" have caused something outweigh what the lady and her children "should" have done.

[Ruskiegunlover]

ZERO sympathy for the stupid bitch. These cops DID have the welfare of the kids in mind. Did this woman behave in a sane way? She FLED from them, tried to GET AWAY FROM THEM, which usually is a pretty damned good sign the person is hiding or runing from SOMETHING ELSE. I would have prefered the officer shoot out a tire rather then send a shot through the van, but regardless, the mother could have been ON something, behaving irratically like she was. Based on her behavior alone, they had reason to remove her from her kids.

And WHY NOT JUST TAKE THE TICKET? Hope the dumbass gets as stiff a penalty as possible...

[TEN-32]

No shooting at tires. No warning shots. No shooting to "injure" or "wing" them, no shooting the knife out of their hand...etc. Use of a firearm is one thing...deadly force. The only scenario here that would have justified shooting at the driver of the moving vehicle would have been if she had attempted to run over an officer. What I saw did not portray that and even then knowing there were children in the van would have been a significant mitigating factor in that decision for me.

[ltorlo64]

Of course not. Obviously no one died or was even shot so let's not be melodramatic. I believe the one officer was shooting at the tires. Is that acceptable procedure under his departments guidelines? I don't know. It's something I was instructed not to do. I could just as easily ask if trying to disarm a police officer = death sentence. The only think I can and will contribute to this thread is my opinion that there is fault on both sides and that the events transpired as they did due to poor choices that were made by both sides but first and foremost by the "victims". Nothing that the police did that "could" have caused something outweigh what the lady and her children "should" have done.

Just remember in the world of a liberal they are never at fault, their decisions and actions should never be held against them and if they say sorry, they have been held accountable. For the rest of us that live in the real world this makes no sense, but to them it is life and death as it removes from them any responsibility for their actions and allows them to always be the victim, the one to be pitied.

[N/A]

Kill 'em all....let FSM sort 'em out.

[Richard Simmons]

Kill 'em all....let FSM sort 'em out.

FSM?

[N/A]

FSM?

The little marxist's avatar....his god.

[LAGC]

FSM?

Inside joke.

[TEN-32]

FSM?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

[Richard Simmons]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

Thanks. I guess I just never paid that much attention his Avatar.

[Justin]

I don't see what the officers did wrong, and it looks to me that the one who was shooting at the van just got to the scene, and may not have been aware of the children inside the van. None of this would have happened if the mother just did as she was told. I hope she receives a pretty harsh punishment as a result of her actions.

[deth502]

imo, and its easy to armchair quarterback after the fact, but the assisting officer should have blocked the front of the van when he pulled up. good chance that would have ended t there before any shooting took place. but again, hindsight is always 20/20.

again, imo, i think the officer who fired the shot was wrong. other than that, EVERYTHING i saw from the other 2 officers was completely justified. the only reason to elevate the altercation to deadly force,imo, would be if she did, and was attempting to run over one of the other oficers with the van, but from their positions, the 2 other officers appeared to be plainly visible to him to his right safely beside the vehicle.