New Mexico Police Officer Fire Gun at Minivan Full of Kids After Traffic Stop That Went Terribly Wrong … Mother Charged with 5 Counts of Child Abuse, Aggravated Fleeing an Officer

All of this started with a simple traffic stop when police pulled over a woman in her mini-van full with children for speeding.

A police officer’s dashboard camera captured the following traffic stop on October 28, 2013 in New Mexico after a woman was pulled over for going 71 mph in a posted 55 mph zone. The mother pulls over and then as the officer goes back to his vehicle, she drives off. She is then pulled over again and all hell breaks loose. Of course running away from the police and then having a 14 year old boy then get into a scuffle with one of the police officers did not help matters. However, as the mom tried to drive off again, the police opened fire on a van full of children. Good grief, you think they could have used a little bit better judgement than that?

The mother, Oriana Ferrell , was charged with five counts of abuse of a child, aggravated fleeing an officer, resisting an officer, reckless driving and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her 14 year-old son was charged with battery of an officer. One has to wonder what is going to happen to the police as an investigation is certain to happen?

ABC News (KABC):

In the video, Oriana Ferrell and a state police officer are seen arguing over a ticket just south of Taos. As the cop walks off, Ferrell drives away and is pulled over again by the same officer.

The officer isn’t too happy, yelling “Get out of the vehicle right now!”

The dash cam shows the officer trying to pull Ferrell out while the five kids inside scream.

Her 14-year-old son gets out, but thinks again when the officer pulls his Taser. The struggle continues.

“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.”

Finally, Ferrell agrees to get out and talk, but the conversation doesn’t last long. Ferrell and the cop struggle as she tries to get back into the van.

While that happens, the 14-year-old gets out again, and this time, he rushes the officer, trying to defend his mom.

After a short tussle, the boy runs back into the minivan. The officer tries to get him out while backup arrives.

Ferrell starts to drive off while another officer fires at the minivan full of kids as young as six.

EXIT QUESTION: How much time will it take for Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to hitch themselves to this story?

UPDATE I: From The Raw Story - Several New Mexico State Police officers are under investigation after at least one of them fired shots at a minivan full of children last month.

Ferrell was later arrested and charged with child abuse, fleeing an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia. The 14-year-old boy was charged with battery. The other children were taken into the custody the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. They were later placed in the care of a family known to Ferrell, according to court documents obtained by The Taos News.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Eighth Judicial District Judge Jeff McElroy reviewed the dashcam footage and said that the “court is concerned about the nature of these charges.”

Defense attorney Alan Maestas explained to the judge that Ferrell was fleeing from the officer because she feared for the safety of her children.

“She was flat-out scared that something was going to happen to her children,” he said. “We ought to talk about the stupidity and recklessness of shooting at a car that has five children in it.”

“If someone ought to be charged with child abuse, it ought to be the New Mexico State Police,” Maestas pointed out.

UPDATE II: Was there a use of excessive force or will it be determined justifiable?

The New Mexico state police chief, Pete Kassetas, called the incident “an intense, 43-minute-long, dangerous situation that placed the public at risk.”

“I have, of course, reviewed the video and do have concerns relating to the conduct of the officer who discharged his firearm,” the chief said in a statement.

Greg Meyer, a retired police captain and expert on the use of force, watched the video and told NBC News that he also had concerns. He said that it was possible the second officer was firing at the tires, but that it would take more investigating.

“I would be asking a lot of questions about the window smash — what’s he trying to accomplish there? And the gunfire — what’s he trying to accomplish there?” Meyer said. “Until we know why, it’s difficult to judge thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the reasonableness of what happened here.”