Thread: Cops shoot at Minivan full of kids ages 6-14 after a traffic stop with their mother

Charges dropped against teen in Taos minivan incident

Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against a teenage boy who scuffled with a state police officer during an Oct. 28 traffic stop outside Taos...

Mom in Taos minivan shooting indicted again

• [COLOR=#999999 !important]From left, Deputy District Attorney Emilio Chávez, Oriana Farrell and lawyer Kathryn Hardy appear at a hearing at the Taos County Courthouse. Rick Romancito/The Taos News[/COLOR]

Posted: Thursday, November 20, 2014 10:00 pm | Updated: 12:10 am, Fri Nov 21, 2014.
By Andrew Oxford
The Taos News

Opening a new case against Oriana Farrell after previous charges against her were dismissed, a grand jury has once again indicted the woman who fled a traffic stop near Taos last year with her five children and was fired upon by state police in a high-profile chase.

Farrell was indicted Thursday on charges including fleeing a law enforcement officer and child abuse.

The Tennessee woman was indicted on the same charges Nov. 7, 2013. A state judge dismissed that case this summer following objections about the grand jury process.

Eighth Judicial District Attorney Donald Gallegos said at the time that he would seek to indict Farrell again.

Gallegos could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Any new criminal case is likely to concern the actions of state police officers involved in apprehending Farrell as well as the actions of Farrell herself.

“If you’re a mother with five kids in the car and somebody smashed your windows out, wouldn’t you run?” Alan Maestas, an attorney representing Farrell, asked in an interview with The Taos News on Thursday. Maestas was referring to one officer who had used a police baton to break a passenger-side window after Farrell and her children had locked themselves in the minivan. Farrell then pulled away, just as two other officers arrived on scene and one fired at her fleeing vehicle.

“I don’t think an indictment is justified, in particular when the officers who smash in a window and shoot at kids aren’t charged at all,” Maestas said.

Farrell’s encounter with New Mexico law enforcement on Oct. 28, 2013, drew national attention after video of her traffic stop outside Taos went viral amid three separate state police shootings.

Farrell was reportedly passing through the state on her way to California from Tennessee.

In footage captured by a dashboard-mounted camera inside a state police officer’s vehicle, Farrell is seen during a traffic stop for allegedly speeding while driving west on N.M. 518 in a minivan with her five children.

When the officer, Tony DeTavis, returns to his vehicle after a lengthy exchange, Farrell is seen driving away. DeTavis gives chase, and Farrell is pulled over again. DeTavis removes Farrell from the minivan, but a struggle ensues involving her then-14-year-old son.

Farrell and the boy get back in the minivan and lock themselves in, and as the vehicle begins to pull away, another state police officer, Elias Montoya, fires three shots at the minivan. A subsequent chase ends in front of a Taos hotel, where Farrell and her son are arrested after piling out of the minivan at gunpoint.

Montoya was fired Dec. 6 following an investigation into use of force during the incident. Other officers involved were reportedly disciplined.

The charges against Farrell’s son, a juvenile, were dropped April 24 following a restorative justice circle.

Farrell and her children are all free and reportedly residing in Santa Fe.

This story was written by The Taos News, a sister paper of The Santa Fe New Mexican.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/new...be8786bbf.html

Mom gets probation in chase where police fired at van of kids

• From left, Deputy District Attorney Emilio Chávez, Oriana Farrell and lawyer Kathryn Hardy appear at a hearing at the Taos County Courthouse. Rick Romancito/The Taos News[/COLOR]

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Posted: Monday, July 13, 2015 11:16 am | Updated: 12:49 pm, Mon Jul 13, 2015.
Associated Press | 1 comment

TAOS, N.M. — A mother accused of child abuse and fleeing police after a chaotic 2013 traffic stop in which a New Mexico officer shot at her minivan full of children has been sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation.

A judge in the New Mexico tourist town of Taos on Monday also ordered Oriana Farrell, of Memphis, Tennessee, to serve 40 hours of community service and participate in a special mediation program.
Her lawyer and prosecutors reached a plea agreement last week in which a misdemeanor drug charge was dropped.

The 41-year-old Farrell was traveling through New Mexico when she sped away from police twice. An officer fired three shots toward Farrell’s van carrying her five children when she drove away the second time.

No one was injured.

The officer, who said he was aiming at a tire, was fired.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/new...5be7f2bee.html

Court sides with New Mexico officer in minivan shooting

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Updated: 12:46 PM MST Dec 27, 2017
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —A federal appeals court has sided with a former New Mexico police officer, denying claims that he violated the rights of a woman and her children when he shot at their minivan as they fled.

The ruling came Wednesday in the case of Oriana Farrell, who was pulled over for speeding and leading officers on a high-speed pursuit through Taos in 2013.

Farrell was originally charged with aggravated fleeing, child abuse and drug paraphernalia possession but ended up reaching a plea agreement. She was sentenced to probation and community service.

The appeals court found that Elias Montoya, the officer who fired at the van, should have been granted summary judgment by a lower court.

Montoya argued he had qualified immunity, which shields public officials from legal actions unless their conduct was unreasonable in light of clearly established law.

http://www.koat.com/article/court-si...oting/14506263