Minivan Stop Turns to Wild Chase for Mom, Kid

[aztek]

Video from a police dashboard camera showed how a routine traffic stop devolved into an intense incident that involved a high speed chase and a police officer appearing to shoot at van full of children.

http://gma.yahoo.com...topstories.html

i don't care what lady did, you don't shoot a at a car fulll of kids.

why TF would you shoot at van driving away ?????????? obviously cops feel they are not liable where their bullest go, and according to some here, no matter where it goes, cops are in the right.

cops just can't stop giving us good reasons to not like them, to say the least.

and again, new mexico. home of "roadside anal exams".

Edited November 18, 2013 by aztek

[Professor Buzzkill]

I would run as well, if I thought the cop was going to brutalize my bunghole.

In saying that, the woman clearly escalated this situation, but noone seemed in any real danger until the cops start shooting.

[aztek]

she is stupid, no doubt. all could have been avoided if she just waited for a ticket, but i don't care what size or color your badge is, you don't shoot at a van full of kids, that moves away from you.

not sure if there was a legit reason to brake window either.

[+OverSword]

Any reasonable person (or policeman) would have just decided we have the license plate, we know where she lives just let her go and show up at the home later when you don't have a chance of a crazy woman getting a van full of children killed in a high speed chase and for goodness sake don't start shooting (duh).

Frigging trigger happy police are really getting to be out of control. What kind of a-hole shoots at a moving vehicle full of children. Someone needs to be fired and banned from working as a LEO.

[Babe Ruth]

Any reasonable person (or policeman) would have just decided we have the license plate, we know where she lives just let her go and show up at the home later when you don't have a chance of a crazy woman getting a van full of children killed in a high speed chase and for goodness sake don't start shooting (duh).

Frigging trigger happy police are really getting to be out of control. What kind of a-hole shoots at a moving vehicle full of children. Someone needs to be fired and banned from working as a LEO.

Maybe the police officers were somehow inspired by the Collateral Murder video, audio portion, in which the pilots proclaimed "that will teach them to bring children to a gunfight", or something like that? With children clearly in that van, they blew it away.

[Rafterman]

I agree - although it does appear that he's trying to shoot out the tires and isn't firing directly into the vehicle. I'm also wondering if he just rolled up on the scene and didn't really know what was going on. Regardless, he should lose his job.

Up until that point, however, the stop looks pretty textbook to me and the initial officer showed tremendous restraint in dealing with both the mom and the son. Put yourself in his shoes.

[aztek]

it is not the cop that stopped her was doing the shooting, looks like the cop that just got to the scene and saw van fleeing, he might not know kids were present at all, which makes things even worst.

he shot his gun with no threat to him, no knowlege what he was shooting at, and from a distance and angle he shot from, you don't shoot at the tires like that. imo he just fired cuz he could

Edited November 18, 2013 by aztek

[supervike]

There is absolutely no valid excuse for a cop firing at a van filled with children, or even for him pulling his gun at this point.

The disgusting part is that LEO's will defend this kind of behavior because of some stupid 'thin blue line' excuse.

[Imaginarynumber1]

Looks like everyone involved f'd up here.

[Thanato]

No excuse to shooting at the van.

[Junior Chubb]

That was embarrassing... I physically cringed when he started to bang on the window with his stick.

I can't help feeling it was just an ego thing, the officer has a fragile ego and she crushed it and walked all over him so he went ballistic.

Look on the bright side though, he might get some 'retraining' and she might stick around for the ticket next time round.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Junior Chubb

[Sweetpumper]

No charges for the cop.

[green_dude777]

No charges for the cop.

Shocker

[Mr.United_Nations]

Don't know why is this news, I have seen a few cop shows where there have been kids in the car, you dont see those reported but you see this

[aztek]

he is not charged cuz he didn't hit anyone, if he did, than this story would be a lot louder. i will not be surpriced for 1 second, if he got promoted after that

Edited November 19, 2013 by aztek

[BiffSplitkins]

Shooting was definitely way out of line as well as smashing out the windows. However, I have to say, at 14 years old I would be questioning my mother as to why she isn't obeying the law instead of physically going after a police officer myself.

Things seemed be going fine until the IDIOT mother decided to set a horrible example for all the children in the car by teaching them that a 'GTA' move is the right thing to do.

[aztek]

that is the problem with usa today.

she has 5 kids, at least, what will she teach them ? who will she raise them to be??? now how many mothers like that are there?? tens of thousands, if not hundreds. this alone shows huge problem. never mind triger happy cops.

idk, may it is just me, but it looks like she was stoned,

Edited November 19, 2013 by aztek

[Drayno]

Cops only have the ability to use their firearm if they feel a threat to their life.

A mini-van driving in the opposite direction - away from you - is not an immediate threat to your life.

[BiffSplitkins]

Cops only have the ability to use their firearm if they feel a threat to their life.

In all reality, cops have the ability to use their firearm any damn time they please. Whether or not it's ethical at the time for them to use it, well that's a whole different story.

[The Silver Thong]

When the police have zero accountability for there actions this will always be the norm.

[supervike]

Shooting was definitely way out of line as well as smashing out the windows. However, I have to say, at 14 years old I would be questioning my mother as to why she isn't obeying the law instead of physically going after a police officer myself.

Things seemed be going fine until the IDIOT mother decided to set a horrible example for all the children in the car by teaching them that a 'GTA' move is the right thing to do.

Well, it's hard to put the expectations on the 14 year old. It would be a hard thing to do, having to sit there while someone is trying to manhandle his mother.

I agree, she did a horrible stupid thing, but she was scared and freaked out. Unfortunately, nowadays, that seems to give cops the right to shoot you full of holes, damning the consequences.

[aztek]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico State Police officer who fired shots at a minivan full of children during a chaotic October traffic stop has been suspended, an agency official said Thursday.

Officer Elias Montoya was suspended with pay Wednesday pending a disciplinary investigation into the shooting outside the northern New Mexico tourist town of Taos, New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas told The Associated Press.

Montoya fired three shots at the minivan, which also was carrying Ferrell's five children. He wrote in a police report that he aimed "at the left rear tire in an attempt to immobilize the vehicle."

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-newsbreak-nm-officer-van-shooting-suspended-202526473.html

Edited December 6, 2013 by aztek

[Collateral Damage]

Don't know why is this news, I have seen a few cop shows where there have been kids in the car, you dont see those reported but you see this

and did the cop(s) unnecessarily open fire upon a van of children in these shows?

[supervike]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico State Police officer who fired shots at a minivan full of children during a chaotic October traffic stop has been suspended, an agency official said Thursday.

Officer Elias Montoya was suspended with pay Wednesday pending a disciplinary investigation into the shooting outside the northern New Mexico tourist town of Taos, New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas told The Associated Press.

Montoya fired three shots at the minivan, which also was carrying Ferrell's five children. He wrote in a police report that he aimed "at the left rear tire in an attempt to immobilize the vehicle."

http://news.yahoo.co...-202526473.html

Suspended with pay until there is an investigation? What takes so long with the investigation? It's been what six weeks now?

Anyhow, the quote of the mother irks me a bit too. She is not an innocent victim in this, and her actions escalated this situation. Of course, I put most of the blame still on the cops, are they not trained to deal with these things diplomatically?

[Skep B]

I honestly assumed he was aiming at the tire. Given the distance he was from it if he was aiming for the body of the vehicle itself he would've hit it and the video would've shown the rear window being hit or something.

it's still not a wise choice, but his thinking being "I need to stop this vehicle with as few people hurt as possible" is better than "They running Imma get to shoot somebody!"

To me, at least, makes it a bit more understandable