WHERE DID NEW MEXICO DIG UP THIS BRAINLESS STATE COP?

Shooting at a fleeing traffic violator’s car full of kids is an act of insanity

New Mexico must recruit some of its cops at an insane asylum. On January 2, Hidalgo County Sheriff’s deputies and Deming cops got doctors to subject a minor traffic violator to two digital anal exams, three enemas and a colonoscopy, all because he clenched his butt during the traffic stop. I wonder if it ever occurred to the cops that the driver may have clenched his butt to keep from shitting in his pants rather than to conceal drugs up his ass.

Then on October 28, New Mexico state troopers got into a tussle with a woman driver over a speeding violation and when she drives off, one cop fired three shots at her car which contained five kids.

A noncompliant mother and a 14-year-old son coming to her defense in this instance hardly qualify as an imminent threat to the life and limb of the cops. And it would seem to me that they posed a minimal threat to public safety. I am not defending what the mother and her son did. They were clearly wrong! But shooting at a car containing five kids is simply insane.

STATE COP SHOOTS AT MINIVAN FULL OF KIDS
A mother is facing felony charges and two state police officers are under investigation after a traffic stop escalated into a wild scene involving broken glass, gunfire and a high speed chase

By Alex Goldsmith

KRQE
November 15, 2013

TAOS, N.M. -- 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.

But Ferrell drives off instead and the officer has to pull her over again. He doesn't appear happy as he approaches the driver's side door of the minivan. The officer yells for Ferrell to get out several times before reaching into the minivan to try and pull her out.

In the dash cam video, you can hear her children yelling for the officer to leave their mom alone and get off of her.

At one point Ferrell's 14-year-old son gets out of the minivan and starts walking towards the officer, but the boy thinks better of it after the officer draws his Taser and points it at the boy. He gets back in the van while the officer continues his struggle to get Ferrell out of the minivan.

"Look, I'm going to ask you one more time to get out of the vehicle and then I'm going to pull you out, OK?" the officer said. "You're already facing evading charges. You ran away from me."

"Sir, I pulled back over, I didn't run away," Ferrell responded. "You see my children. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just trying to take them to the Rio Grande."

Finally, Ferrell agrees to get out and talk with the officer behind the minivan. The conversation doesn't last long. When the officer tells her to turn around, Ferrell bolts back towards her minivan. The officer grabs her and a struggle ensues.

That's when her 14-year-old son gets out of the car again and rushes the officer. The boy and the cop have a short tussle. The officer draws his Taser again while the boy runs back into the minivan and closes the door.

As backup officers pull up, the officer pulls out his baton and smashes one of the rear windows as the family screams again. The minivan speeds off while another officer fires what appears to be three shots at the fleeing vehicle.

Ferrell leads State Police on a high-speed chase into Taos before giving herself up in front of a hotel.

Ferrell 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.

State Police are not releasing the names of the officers involved but say they are both under investigation for the incident.