People are shitting bricks over this today:
Full story over at KRQE News.
Up until the shooting of the vehicle, I really don’t think the cop was doing anything unreasonable. So much restraint you have to show in that line of work… this video is a perfect example. Did you see how obnoxious that lady and her stupid kid were acting?
Farrell 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.
LOLOLOL good. I’m also glad to hear the officers involved are under investigation. My guess is the one that shot at the van will get a talking to, but probably not much beyond that. That move was full-retard for sure. Can you imagine if he would have hit that 14 year old green haired purple hoody kid? Hoodies would have been banned country-wide for good.
Thoughts?
Hat tip: Miguel
Comments
22 responses to “New Mexico Cop Shoots Fleeing Minivan Full Of Kids”
Based on the deliberate way he was aiming, and the slow rate of fire with his shots, I’m guessing he was trying to shoot out the tires. He should have listened to Agent Mulder’s advice: Shooting out the tires on a moving vehicle is a lot harder than it sounds.
This was my thought before I even saw DS’s comment. Stable position, careful aim, slow, measured shots. He was trying for the tires. There’s a lot of police overreach in this world. This is not an example of it.
I even think that when the van arrives at the hotel, it seems like it has a flat, doesn’t it?
Yeah, no sympathy for the ‘mom’ in this. This is why police need rpgs. Just toast that minivan as it drives away and be done.
Clearly the solution, mein führer…
I like yes men, youre hired!
That reminds me, I finally saw Idiocracy after all these years of my friends hounding me that I should see it.
Maybe shooting at the van (even if he was aiming for the tires) was a bad idea… Small chance of hitting the tire and baaaad news if you hit a kid! But other than that, I don’t have a problem with anything that happened on the part of the cops. I feel absolutely zero sympathy for an idiot mother and her idiot son who both apparently have no idea how to act during a simple traffic stop.
I don’t feel much sympathy for the mom but I think the cop overreacted. When there’s a risk of hitting an innocent person (especially a child who had no say in being there) I think he could have handled it differently. I don’t like cops, but even I have to admit they stayed pretty cool and took pretty measured steps in handling the situation.
A little late on this one
If he was shooting at the tires he might just get fired.
IF he was shooting at the car he might get charged criminally.
No he won’t.
You know what, with 5 kids in the van, this “mom” could just have tried to make the first stop last, and last, and last, and let the babies start to cry and shout and I think the police officer (who I salute, because he is really cool) would have let her go just to save his hearing…
The original Officer should have controlled the driver, so the situation didn’t escalate. But, that is easier said than done, since the stigma of using force on women is always in the back of your mind.
I don’t see how shooting the van will be justifiable, even if their policy allows shooting-out tires. The shooting Officer arrived late and did not know what was going on, but the level of crime here was only a vehicle code violation (they later found a Marijuana pipe, apparently- which is now less than an infraction in CA.; maybe it’s a Misdemeanor in NM), and there’s not many instances that would justify shooting into a van loaded with kids.
Things snowballed on the Officers, and now they only have fruit of the poisoned tree. Meaning, their Felony arrests were due to a situation of their own creation.
The cops created this situation? Nah, I’m pretty sure the dumb ho who felt like making things much worse than a lil pot ticket is fully responsible here
The article said they were on an “educational trip”. BS, but boy did they get an education. After an assault on an officer and attempting to flee, you still can’t use force? Thought that’s when you could light em up.
Fuck tha’ police…
These guys were 100% good up until they started shooting at car tires. I thought shooting at tires went away with the stage coach.
Bad training/department policies die hard. Shooting at tires is terribly dangerous. You’ll almost certainly miss and a ricochet off a road is gonna keep going for a while. I only know of one instance where it worked and that was officers in pursuit of a semi that wouldn’t stop taking out the tires with a shotgun.
The department should use this to create or revise their policy on shooting at tires. They’re lucky no bystanders where hit. A plaintiff’s attorney would have a field day with that.
This is the right way to breach a minivan :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbM9f2iLbuo
Holy crap!! “I’m OK”. lol
It would only be a $100 ticket… stupid crazy bitch.