ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — The vanload of black children who were shot at by a New Mexico State Police officer have admitted they may have contributed to the chaos by not wearing their safety belts.
According to KRQE in Albuquerque, an officer pulled over Oriana Ferrell in Taos, N.M. for going 71 mph in a 55 mph zone on Oct. 28. Ferrell claimed to have brought her gang of five children, aged 6 to 18, from Tennessee on an educational trip.
After Ferrell’s argument with the officer over her speeding ticket escalated into a high-speed chase, another officer fired three shots at the runaway minivan, but failed to kill or injure Ferrell or any of her children.
Initially citing “concerns relating to the conduct of the officer who discharged his firearm,” New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas called off an internal investigation into the incident after receiving an apology from Ferrell’s lawyer.
“Ms. Ferrell and her children would like to apologize for their conduct that made the police officers feel threatened, which included being in a group of more than three and not wearing their safety belts,” read the statement from defense attorney Alan Maestas.
“If [the children] had remained buckled up like they were supposed to, the officers may not have faced the difficult decision of having to discharge their firearms,” continued the statement.
Maestas also thanked the officers for their efforts to keep New Mexico safe from black families and minivans.
The New Mexico Department of Motor Vehicles website states that violators of its safety belt laws may be fined $25 and have two points assessed on their license, but because the children didn’t have drivers licenses, police had to resort to deadly force.
State Police are not releasing the names of the officers involved<, but one officer reportedly called the incident “a terrifying split-second decision.”
“It’s every troopers nightmare to have to use his firearm in the line of duty, but all of those people in one van, and not one of them wearing a seatbelt. What was I supposed to do? Remain calm?”
“One of them was even wearing a hooded sweatshirt, or a ‘hoodie’ as they call them.”
9 Comments
Randy Govostis
Click the button at the bottom of the article that says “show facts”, no apology was issued by the driver, that part is satirical.
Chasity Alvarez
“Ms. Ferrell and her children would like to apologize for their conduct that made the police officers feel threatened, which included being in a group of more than three”…
So if you’re black you can’t be in a group of 4 + without getting shot at? Is that the message. Clearly running was a dumb and dangerous thing to do on her part, but that sentence (group of 3 or more) tells me more caused this incident than her running. Racism and racial profiling, alive and well in the US.
**That said, mom was completely wrong. So was Mister po-po though!
Bobby TheBruce Kelly
Yeah, the officer was wrong to shoot at a van full of a mother and her children. That’s a horrible thing to do.
However, a mother who is pulled over for speeding with her WHOLE FAMILY in the car, and then fleeing from the police in a HIGH SPEED CHASE with her kids still in the car is obviously not a very capable–or even sane, for that matter–mother. Why would speeding away from the police with you children in the car even be an option to her?
Emmanuel Sawyerr
An investigation is warranted. A van with children shot at by New Mexico state troopers and someone had the audacity to obtain an apology from the driver. Ridiculous at best but more mind bugling since no citizen(s) in New Mexico is protesting. I am saddened by the state of affairs in this nation in the last 5 years. Those officers involved should be suspended without pay pending an internal investigation.
John B Hubbard
Let me see what I can say about this…hmmm….OH, YEAH, WTF!!!!!!????? Why did she apologize and why was the investigation into reckless actions by a law officer stopped? This reads like something from the Onion. Is it?
Kim Garcia
So this is total bull or satire because there is nothing true about this story except for Ms. Ferrell getting pulled over for speeding and her running from the cops. The officer did shoot at her tires.
John Dixon
Wow Newslo, you’ll never be like the Onion….How does it feel riding on someones coattails ?
Chris Johnston
Bullshit. She and her oldest son attacked those officers.
Paul Hale
OMG one had on a hoodie.
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