What started out as a traffic stop turned into a high-speed car chase and shooting as a Tennessee mom failed to obey police orders and tried to run away from the cops.
Oriana Ferrell was pulled over near Taos, New Mexico for driving 71 mph in a 55 mph zone. An officer asked her to turn the vehicle off and wait for him while he wrote the ticket, but when he moved away from the minivan Ferrell drove off. She pulled over again a couple of minutes later and the situation got even more heated.
One of the officers opened the driver’s door and tried to force Ferrell out of the car, but she wouldn’t budge. There were five children in the minivan, ages 6 to 18, and they were screaming at the cop to leave their mother alone. Her 14-year-old son got out of the car to defend her but the officer pulled a taser gun on him and he returned inside.
The dispute continued as Ferrell denied trying to run away from the police and she eventually got out of the car, but not for long. She ran back to the car struggling to break the cop’s grip, and the 14-year-old got out again, attacking the officer.
Both the boy and his mom managed to get inside the minivan and lock the doors so another cop came over for backup. The officers smashed the car window by the boy’s seat with a baton while the children inside were screaming in panic. Ferrell started the car and drove off, provoking the third officer to fire three shots at the back of the minivan full of children.
Four minutes later, Ferrell finally gave up and pulled over in front of a hotel. She and her son were arrested right away. The 14-year-old was charged with battery of an officer and was released shortly after.
The police found two marijuana pipes in the minivan and Ferrell was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia in addition to intentional abuse of a child, aggravated fleeing an officer, resisting an officer and reckless driving.
While there is no doubt that most of this could’ve been avoided if Ferrell had obeyed the orders in the first place, her attorney Alan Maestas said she was scared and acted out of fear.
“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.” The question remains why lives of five children were endangered because of their mother’s irresponsible behavior.
wtf? this is outragiously wrong, they should never hold a gun Again those WHO fire at children! Enough with your Policestate brutality!! Lucky all is alive here…. Peace Out!
Wrong wrong wrong. Whether she pulled off or not. Why in the world would you fire 3 shots at a van full of children ?????? Surviving under the Red White and BLUE!!
This took place months ago, and I still say that had she just took the ticket the first time they pulled her over, it would not have gotten out of hand like it did. I don’t condone those cops doing what they did with those kids in the van, but remember that the mother is the reason for it going there.
No, they should not have fired the gun at the van… But depending on where they were when she took off… Oh by the way, more irresponsibly, the woman should not have taken off… What an idiot.
This was all the dope head moms fault. Get it right people. No real parent would ever put their children in harms way, she should have stayed stopped the first time. By not doing so she gave these cops the ticket to do whatever they wanted, right or wrong, she gave them the power. Dont give pigs the power people.