Cop Opens Fire at Minivan Full of Kids

Car Buzz ^ | 11/18/13

[SoFloFreeper]

Trip to the Rio Grande turns sour after a traffic stop escalates into a wild scene involving a high speed chase and gunfire.

What started as a routine traffic stop quickly descended into a maniacal scene with a 14-year old kid rushing a cop, a dangerous high-speedchase, a cop smashing a window with his baton and another firing at the back of a minivan full of kids....

The heated incident began outside Taos where Oriana Ferrell was pulled over for going 71mph in a 55 mph zone having travelled to New Mexico from Memphis for an educational trip. Looks like they learned a lesson or two about cops.

[MHGinTN]

Seen the price of ammo lately?

[JoeDetweiler]

See Post 2 by dennisw....

” A colleague fired three rounds at the rear tires “in an attempt to keep the vehicle from leaving,” he wrote.”

http://www.taosnews.com/news/article_401433ae-4d74-11e3-9e84-001a4bcf887a.html

[bicyclerepair]

At what point was the fleeing vehicle a threat to the police?

[Nervous Tick]

>> Seen the price of ammo lately?

Yes, I’ve seen the numbers on the shelves underneath where the boxes of ammo would be if there was any. :-)

[driftdiver]

Fortunately no.

They are very lucky they didnt hurt one of the kids, not for lack of trying though.

[MHGinTN]

This ‘educational trip’ is closer to the truth of those kids’ future than readers might want to admit. This female is raising her kids to be outlaws

[Regulator]

Moreover, they are not subject to speed limits or other traffic any laws

Fixed

[MHGinTN]

if you read the New Mexico local account, the pursuit was at speeds nearing 100moph. This woman was driving a minivan. THAT is reckless endangerment of other drivers, IMHO.

[Nervous Tick]

Looking back over the comments, you have done a good job of calling out the police for what they did.

However, you haven’t offered any solutions or alternatives to a very real problem they faced.

What *should* they have done?

[MHGinTN]

‘Cheaper than dirt’ is scamming customers to the tune of $25 for 50 rounds of .22lr! They need to change their name to ‘Scams R Us’

[OneVike]

So this is what we have come to in America. Those hired to protect and serve us are now shooting at van full of children.

Regardless of whether or not the police officer may have thought the children could have been kidnapped or not, and regardless of the fact that the lady did violate a traffic law, nothing in my mind convinces me that the van would ever had outrun the police car.

Let's say she headed South to the border just some 50 miles away. I am sure they would have had more than enough police cars to stop her long before she got to the border. Which by the way it seems she went to a motel instead. After the fact we learn she had drug paraphernalia. What? A crack pipe or something?

Whats the lesson for us? The lesson is that the government, whether it be the City, County, State, or federal, have all become way too powerful for my taste.

Then we have some fellow Freepers defending the idea that shooting at a van full of children is the proper way to handle this situation.

What do you think would have been the reaction if when a drunk President, Ulysses S Grant, refused to stop for authorities while dangerously racing down 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, that the officer then pulled out his handgun and shot at the spokes of his wheels to stop him? After all. It wasn't until after he stopped that they realized who he was.

No, I am very troubled by our modern day society that stops citizens from defending themselves with guns when threatened, yet the same government will shoot at a van full of children because the driver refused to pay a fine or accept a summons to show up in court at a later date, and instead sped off in anger.

Regardless of the outcome in this case, it is all another example of the police state we now live in.

America, "Land of the Free my ASS!

[Nervous Tick]

>> $25 for 50 rounds of .22lr!

Yep, that’s just nuts.

I have on occasion found .22LR at our local Academy Surplus for “only* twice what it used to cost (i. e. ~5c/cartridge).

I refuse to pay more than that. Therefore I am rationing out my 1500 or so very sparingly.

12ga target loads are the only round I feel I can shoot with wild abandon. Whoopie!

[Nervous Tick]

>> nothing in my mind convinces me that the van would ever had outrun the police car... I am sure they would have had more than enough police cars to stop her long before she got to the border.

Follow that thought to its logical end. How would it have ended? In her attempt to run off the road around a roadblock, rolling the van and killing all inside? Her inflamed 14 year old rushing a cop? Plowing into an “innocent” officer or two at the roadblock? Veering into an “innocent” family of tourists in a station wagon?

What’s YOUR version?

[libstripper]

It looks like the officer was firing at the vehicle’s tires, not into the vehicle. Makes a big difference, especially after another officer was attacked by the woman’s large and aggressive son.

[rktman]

http://www.luckygunner.com/ may have some .22 ammo. Or try http://ammoseek.com/ or http://www.ammoengine.com/. The last 2 are kind of like kayak.com except for bullets.

[OneVike]

He had her license plate number, so by by the time she sped off he would already have known she was the owner of the car.

Heck, before he stepped out of his patrol car he would know who the owner of the vehicle was and where she lived. So, who is she really running from? Let her go, they know where she lives, works, if those are her children, or not, and if she had any other traffic violations and or what criminal record she has. All this before he even confronted her.

Or have you never heard of the way the traffic officers can now have all the information off your license plate number before they even step out of their police car to confront the driver?

[Nervous Tick]

>> He had her license plate number, so by by the time she sped off he would already have known she was the owner of the car.

That’s fine... but it’s not an ending.

She is not in her home town, or even her home state. You’re the cop — QUICK! why is she speeding away? What’s she doing in NM with a van full of kids? Are they her kids? Where will she take them and what will she do with them?

>> Let her go, they know where she lives, works

You’re honestly suggesting that the cops should have just let her go and do whatever and every few days maybe their counterparts in her home town should check to see if she had returned home and then... what? Hand-delivered her a ticket from another state with a polite request to pay it?

And what if later that night she got stoned and drunk in a motel, piled those kids back in the mini-van, and then rolled it, killing all on board? Would you be among the FReepers screaming for the heads of the cops who “could have” detained her the day before?

You’re engaging in armchair quarterbacking here. This is simply not a case of egregious gestapo tactics. It’s a snap-judgment call that actually ended up to be the right one, in spite of all the misleading conjecture about “shooting innocent kids” and such.

[Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears]

From what I understand (and I'm not a cop), the "shoot at tires" scenario is one that largely takes place only in TV shows and movies.

Why Cops Shot The Capitol Driver Rather Than Shooting Her Tires

[OneVike]

Also, give it a while and the officer will even know if you have healthcare or not. In the state of Michigan they already know because a persons healthcare insurance is a liability for insured and uninsured motorists.

I’m sure that by the time Obama leaves office, the police will even know if you paid your taxes on time when they stop you.

Heck, the police officer probably doesn’t even have to call your number in anymore. I am sure their is an on-board computer system attached to their vehicle cam that can read the license number off every car they pass by. They can know all they need to know about you so when you do get home the police will either be waiting for you or have a summons sent to you to show up to court before you even turn off the main road the cop passed you by on.

So let her go and take care of the situation when she least expects it and no one is left in harms way.

After all, we already live in Orwell’s society of 1984.

[driftdiver]

What should they have done?

Well if they couldn’t stop an overladen minivan being driven by a panicky woman perhaps they shouldn’t be cops.

Perhaps that means boxing her in. Spike strips to deflate her tires. Or maybe just follow her until she comes to her right mind and stops.

Lots of options which don’t involve endangering the children more than the woman was doing.