Posted on 11/22/2013 12:29:43 PM PST by moonshinner_09
Mother of minivan of kids shot at by police speaks out against'terrifying individual' police officer
The mother who led New Mexico police on a dramatic chase that culminated in their shooting at the minivan she was driving with her children inside has spoken out about the incident. Calling one of police officers a 'terrifying individual,' Oriana Ferrell, 39, wrote in a letter penned from her prison cell last month and published in the Taos News yesterday that she drove away from police repeatedly to protect her children. 'A uniformed officer can shoot three bullets at my van and be considered to be “doing his job”, but my doing what I can to get my own children away from such a terrifying individual has been termed “child abuse” and “endangerment,” according to New Mexico law,' she wrote.
New Mexico State Police have opened an investigation into the conduct of the troopers - and driver Oriana Ferrell and her 14-year-old son are facing charges. Calling herself a 'peace officer,' Ferrell writes: 'As a single, African-American mother of five in this country, things are tough enough I should not have to endure harassment at the hands of someone who has been hired to protect the citizens of this land over an alleged “speeding offense.” No one should.'
The traffic stop took place south of Taos, New Mexico, on October 28 - but it sparked local outrage after the video from a state police dashboard camera went public. Footage shows the officer casually walk up to the vehicle and begin speaking with the driver. When the officer walks away, presumably to run the license and registration and decide whether to write a ticket, the van takes off.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
There is no such thing. Maybe 50 years ago, but not today.
I got a speeding ticket in NM five or six years ago and I got a ticket and received my bill at home in California a month later and sent in my money.
I suspect that the deal was the police were denied a search of the vehicle and they were going to call in for a warrant.
The NM highways are known as a transportation route for drug smugglers heading west with drugs and heading east with bags of money. The traffickers use different profiles as to not attract attention. So it would be reasonable to inspect a vehicle that reeks of pot and has a large carrying capacity.
It appeared the first officer to deal with her did attempt to arrest her but he was not aggressive enough to get it done, I understand why and it all has to do with PC. He was not only dealing with a female but a black female and knew his every action would be under a microscope. So he tried to be “gentle” with her and she got away from him. If he had just grabbed her and cuffed her like he would have if she had been a white male the story would have ended there, unless people would have been up in arms that he was too forceful.
Yes LEOs screw up and yes some are totally out of line, but others are good professionals that have a hard time doing their job due to PC crap.
As if she was protecting her children driving around smoking dope with her 14 yr old son...
Farrell and her 14-year-old son are both arrested. The mother gets child abuse and fleeing charges as well as a misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia. The Taos News reports that State Police claim they found two marijuana pipes in the minivan. Her son is charged with battery of an officer.
The family is reportedly from Memphis and was visiting New Mexico on an educational trip.
I don’t take issue with anything they did, until they used deadly force.
huge downside and no upside
In some jurisdictions law enforcement can require the ticket be paid there or require an appearance. Apparently this occurred in one of those areas.
To clarify my earlier comment. They screwed up and allowed the situation to escalate. I have a problem with that because it endangered lives.
But thats not really cause to condemn the cops, until they opened fire.
I never ever heard of NM State Police requiring fine paid to officer on the side of the road. It does sound that way but I think the reporter must have misunderstood or the LEO wrote it up in a confusing way. In NM drivers do have to sign the ticket that you admit guilt and will pay the fine. It is my understanding if an out of state driver does not want to admit guilt they must appear before a judge as soon as possible. If she refused to admit guilt or appear before judge then she was subject to arrest.
I find it hard to believe the LEO started off being a jerk; she was speeding on a winding mountain road, and the officer could have arrested her on the spot for reckless driving if he just wanted to jack with her.
I looked to me like the officer was shooting at her tires in an attempt to stop her. I think at that point that officer did not know what they were dealing with- at least two of her children looked like adults, one was 18 and the one that got out and fought with the officer was 14 but adult size. One officer saw a gun that turned out to be a toy but may have looked real through the window. She was out of control, her son was out of control and neither were complying with officer commands. She had been speeding on a mountain road and that put everyone on the road in danger. I do not think the situation required deadly force but if this story had played out where they let her drive away without doing everything in their power to stop her and she had wrecked and killed her family or another family I think many would be screaming that the LEO should have done everything to stop her.
Of course he “saw a gun”. The threshold of justification is so incredibly low they can get away with anything.
The cops failed big time here. They allowed a simple traffic stop to escalate, failed to control it, and then used deadly force and put the lives of several children at risk.
If he thought he saw a gun why did he try to shoot out the tires?
Horse pucky
(and driving 71 on a straight clear road through the friggin desert is not anything that should deserve a ticket) then there would be no reason for the pay now in cash scheme ,,
They weren’t yelling at her until after she drove away. Until that time it was a routine stop. The officer walked back to the car to do whatever paperwork her needed or to call in her plate and she drove away.
There was nothing threatening in the first part of the stop at all.
I am sorry she was/is an idiot.
She was speeding on a winding mountain road.
She was uncooperative and irrational with police and fled twice.
Her son got out and became combative with LEO.
Size and age of at least two of the children- 14, 18 made them seem to be adults. LEO likely thought there was at least 3 adults in the car.
There were drugs and drug paraphernalia in the car.
There was a toy gun in the car.
I think this woman was totally out of control and so was her son. LEO probably could have handled it differently, but we really have no idea what they knew or didn’t know. LEO is claiming she had priors, which must have come up on their computer- I think her lawyer disputes that she had previous charges of driving under influence. Some of this is he said/she said stuff but LEO said they saw a gun in the car, there was a toy gun found in the car.
Driving like she was on a mountain road, she was putting her family and everyone else on the road in danger. Acting like an ass with LEO is never a good idea. She is the one that escalated the situation whether the officer that fired was right or wrong.
None of which is justification to start shooting at a van full of kids.
“I shot at them because their mother was putting them in danger” said the cop.
I said are you kidding? I might think I'm guilty but to a cop on the side of the road is the wrong place to make that admission, ever for any reason, and I would go to court.
He went back to the car and when he came back and gave me the ticket it was for a future court date in the town where I live (in NM) and it clearly states on the ticket that officers are never to demand or accept payment at the roadside.
So who knows? At first it seemed to me that was exactly what he was demanding. Maybe they have two different sets of procedures they can use at will?
see my update at 57...
Its a start but misuse of deadly force deserves more than fired.
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