New Mexico traffic stop turns into Shootout At The OK Corral

You can find more of the gory details at Gawker. Here's a sneak preview:

Gawker wrote:

She was just trying to take her kids to the Rio Grande. Or that's what Oriana Ferrell says in this newly released dashcam footage from an Oct. 28 incident outside of Taos, New Mexico.

The video shows Ferrell being pulled over in a minivan for going 71 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone. Ferrell, with her five children in the car, begins arguing with the officer. As the cop walks back toward his car to write her a ticket, Ferrell pulls away from the scene and is again pulled over immediately by the same officer.

The police officer tries to pull Ferrell out of the car and when this happens, her 14-year-old son momentarily gets out of the car to defend his mother but is stopped when the cop pulls out his Taser. A larger scuffle ensues, the 14-year-old rushes the policeman, and by the time backup arrives, one officer uses a baton to break the window of the van. Another cop, naturally, pulls out his gun and fires three shots at the back of the minivan filled with children ages six to 18, three of whom were in the backseat.

If the shit hasn't already hit the fan by the time you read this, it probably will soon. It's only by the grace of God nobody was killed.

So admittedly the person who started the incident was the mother, who argued with a cop who was giving her a ticket for speeding. Unless there is more to this story than meets the eye, I don't fault the initial traffic cop in this case. Had the fourteen-year-old son not gotten out to instigate a physical confrontation with the police officer, I sincerely doubt it would have escalated this quickly. Hell, if the mother would have simply accepted the ticket that she absolutely deserved, this never would have happened.

Of course, shooting into a van that has children into it is probably not a good idea either, so there you have it. I think the backup police officers may have been a bit trigger happy. I'd be curious to know if they were aware of the fact that there were children in the back seat when they fired into the van, though.

Aggie wrote:

So admittedly the person who started the incident was the mother, who argued with a cop who was giving her a ticket for speeding.

Pretty much. Also, I see you added more on.

Quote :

turns into Shootout At The OK Corral

Who needs the sensationalist media when you have Chris91? There was no "shootout," there was a cop trying to stop a dangerous vehicle.

From the video... the cop who fired seems to have arrived just in time to see "crazy person behind the wheel of a two-ton killing machine floors the gas." He may not have been aware of the presence of children. Although normally one of the primary rules of shooting at someone or something is "know your target and what's behind it," I think it's very likely that, responding to a call of "crazy asshole driving recklessly and resisting arrest with belligerent passenger, need backup" would react harshly to the van pulling away again. Having said that, he's clearly not firing wildly at the vehicle.

I'm not someone who's a fan of use of force by cops. I've ranted about police militarization and inappropriately gung-ho attitude here before. But I just don't think this was the problem here. He fired three controlled shots, apparently at the back left tire. As the van continued to pull away, he stopped shooting.

Soooo... no, I really don't see a scandal here. This looks like a responsible use of force by the state patrol.

Penguin wrote:

Quote :

turns into Shootout At The OK Corral

Who needs the sensationalist media when you have Chris91?

Pretty much, it's Chris, what do you expect? Goat fucker here has a tendancy to BLOW things out of PROPORTION after all.

Penguin wrote:

Quote :

turns into Shootout At The OK Corral

Who needs the sensationalist media when you have Chris91? There was no "shootout," there was a cop trying to stop a dangerous vehicle.

From the video... the cop who fired seems to have arrived just in time to see "crazy person behind the wheel of a two-ton killing machine floors the gas." He may not have been aware of the presence of children. Although normally one of the primary rules of shooting at someone or something is "know your target and what's behind it," I think it's very likely that, responding to a call of "crazy asshole driving recklessly and resisting arrest with belligerent passenger, need backup" would react harshly to the van pulling away again. Having said that, he's clearly not firing wildly at the vehicle.

I'm not someone who's a fan of use of force by cops. I've ranted about police militarization and inappropriately gung-ho attitude here before. But I just don't think this was the problem here. He fired three controlled shots, apparently at the back left tire. As the van continued to pull away, he stopped shooting.

Soooo... no, I really don't see a scandal here. This looks like a responsible use of force by the state patrol.

Haven't you also mentioned that shooting at tires is pretty much retarded?

I don't think it's as big of a deal as every sensationalist dipshit wants to make it out to be, but the fool who fired at the van should be reprimanded. Nothing positive was going to come of that.

However, the entire incident is entirely the fault of the fucking idiot woman.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Haven't you also mentioned that shooting at tires is pretty much retarded?

Ehhhhhh, not really.

EDIT NOW THAT I'M NOT ABOUT TO GO TO WORK: It's hardly ideal. But faced with some lunatic peeling out from the rear aspect, it's not like you can lay down a spike strip.