Police Open Fire on Van Full of Children After Traffic Stop
Video: Police 'Shot At Kids In Minivan'
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Two police officers are under investigation after at least one of them allegedly shot at a vehicle containing five children.
It followed a bizarre incident in which the routine stop of a minivan turned into a high speed chase in New Mexico.
A mother identified as 39-year-old Oriana Ferrell, from Tennessee, and her 14-year-old son are also facing charges as a result of the incident.
It started when Ferrell was stopped by a New Mexico state police officer going at 71mph in a 55mph zone on State Road 518, near Talpa, on October 28.
A video from a camera on the dashboard of a patrol car showed the woman arguing with the officer before driving away.
She was then pulled over again and when the woman refused to get out of the car, the officer attempted to pull her out.
As some children in the car started to scream, one got out of the vehicle to confront the officer. He got back in when the policemen pulled out a taser.
Ferrell then allegedly sped off, and as she did so, another officer who had arrived on the scene is said to have fired three shots into the back of the minivan where the children were sitting.
The car was stopped again after 10 minutes and Ms Ferrell was arrested.
According to ABC News she was later charged with five counts of abuse of a child, aggravated fleeing from an officer, resisting arrest, reckless driving and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Her teenage son was charged with battery of an officer.
But the actions of the officers, with a routine stop ending in an officer shooting at a car, also led to an internal investigation.
The New Mexico state police chief, Pete Kassetas, said in a statement the incident was "an intense, 43-minute-long, dangerous situation that placed the public at risk".
"I have, of course, reviewed the video and do have concerns relating to the conduct of the officer who discharged his firearm," he added.
Ferrell appeared in court last Tuesday where she was told of the charges she faces.
During the hearing, her lawyer Alan Maestas said the case would "go nowhere" as law enforcement officers were the ones who had endangered the defendant's children when they fired on her vehicle.
"There was no reason at all to chase her down," he said, according to the Taos News.
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