So, the occupants of the minivan were black. The mother, Oriana Ferrell, was traveling from Tennessee on what was reported as an educational trip. She was pulled over by a New Mexico State Police officer for allegedly driving at 71 mph in a 55 mph zone. After a heated exchange with the officer and trying to evade prosecution for the deadly crime of speeding, an officer opened fire on Ferrell’s minivan.
Are we surprised that a cop would fire shots into a minivan full of black kids driven by a black woman after a traffic stop? I’m not. We saw this as recent as a couple of months ago when Miriam Carey was killed by cops in Washington DC. In the event that you don’t remember her, she was the mentally ill black woman who was gunned down by police officers who were praised on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Well, not to belabor a point, but Carey’s 2-year-old daughter was also in the vehicle when police opened fire. Like the children in the following story, thankfully Carey’s daughter was not killed. But, something tells me that if they were, many would excuse the actions of the police officer while blaming the mother. I mean, what else can we expect in a society where police officers have no regard for the lives of people of color, right?
This from Press TV:
Video from a police car dashboard camera released to ABC News affiliate KRQE-TV on Friday shows a police officer opening fire at a minivan after an African American woman who was pulled over for speeding drives away.
According to KRQE-TV, a New Mexico State Police officer pulled over Oriana Ferrell’s minivan on Oct. 28 because she was driving at 71 mph in a 55 mph zone.
As the officer walks back to his car, Ferrell drives away. The video shows the officer pulls over Ferrell again and yells for her to get out of the vehicle.
At this point, Ferrell’s 14-year-old son gets out of the minivan and walks towards the officer while other children in the vehicle scream.
The officer shows Ferrell’s son his Taser and he gets back in the minivan.
Finally, the video shows, Ferrell gets out of the minivan but gets back in after the officer tells her to turn around and face the vehicle.
When the officer forcibly prevents Ferrell from getting in the minivan, her son gets out and tries to rush the cop.
Ferrell and her son get in the vehicle and when backup arrives, the cop smashes one of the rear windows with his baton and as Ferrell starts to drive away another cop opens fire on the minivan.
According to Taos News, Ferrell’s five kids, ranging in age from 6 to 18, were in the vehicle.
A high-speed chase followed and the incident ended with the arrest of Ferrell and her 14-year-old son.
Watch the video below:
The woman in this story was dead wrong in attempting to evade the police. If she didn’t agree that she should have received a ticket for speeding, she should have contested it in court. Yes, it would have been a huge inconvenience considering that she lives out-of-state; but, it’s what she should have done. However, what the cop did was totally out of line. But hey, the lives of black folk — in this case the life of a black woman and her children — in the eyes of law enforcement are expendable. Which is funny because if Oriana Ferrell’s children were not wearing seatbelts, she would have been ticketed for child endangerment; but, somehow opening fire on a minivan with five child passengers isn’t. Thankfully Oriana Ferrell didn’t get killed like Jonathan Ferrell.