(New Mexico) State officer in minivan shooting is fired

Santa Fe New Mexican ^ | Dec 7, 2013 | Uriel J. Garcia

[fifedom]

An officer who shot at a minivan full of children following a traffic stop near Taos has been fired, a New Mexico State Police spokesman said Friday. The Oct. 28 incident, in which the officer fired a handgun toward the fleeing vehicle, gathered national attention after a video from a dashboard camera was released.

[fifedom]

FreeRepublic thread on the original incident

[Standing Wolf]

Adult supervision of police is sorely needed from coast to coast. It’s good to see some showing up in New Mexico.

[Telepathic Intruder]

I wonder what would happen if I “shot at a minivan full of children”? I respect police but I hate abuse of power and the overuse of something that the rest of us are increasingly not even allowed to have.

[Joe 6-pack]

"DeTavis wrote in a police report about the incident that Montoya “later bought the entire family McDonald’s during the booking process.”

The man creates a slip hazard wherever he goes from the milk of human kindness oozing from his every pore.

[goodwithagun]

The idiot driver is no hero either.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

What about the jack-booted thug that was pounding on the van, with children inside, smashing the windows out. He should be fired, too. What a poor example of “we protect and defend”.

[dragnet2]

I wonder what would happen if I “shot at a minivan full of children”?

I can answer that.

You'd be hunted down and killed, or thrown in a cage for life.

[USNBandit]

Even in the dashcam video you can see the other two troopers having a WTF reaction to the third shooting at the vehicle.

The family will get paid off, and the 14 year old will get a slap on the wrist if anything for assaulting the first trooper. Rest assured he will be making additional appearances in court rooms in the future.

[USNBandit]

Maybe you missed the part of the video when the son, was committing an assault against the trooper.

[Thumper1960]

Everyone already knows the driver was/is an idiot. However, the driver didn’t pull out a semi-auto and start shooting into his cruiser.
The fact is, the officer used brute force, above and beyond what was prudent and necessary. Cops are held to a much higher standard, whether you like it or not. They carry arsenals above what most citizens do and should be very careful how they use that lethal power. Far from just being fired, this cop should spend time in a prison cell, in the general population. No special priviledges and no special protection. He should now and forever more be just another of the great unwashed.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

So? Assault or no assault, there was no excuse for using deadly force against all of the occupants of the vehicle, which is exactly what he did.

If what this now-former cop did was enough to get him fired, then it should be enough to get him arrested.

[Thumper1960]

Just LOOKING at a cop can be grounds for ‘’assault’’.

[Chickensoup]

Good to hear. I hope she sues the pants off of him

[poinq]

I don't understand why this same thing did not happen to the police who fired randomly at the crazy lady who drove into the capital. If you watch the video you see ten police just firing into the crowd across the street at the fleeing car. They could have hit anybody. The police posed more danger to the public than the lady did. And the lady had a kid in the back seat.

[subterfuge]

Fired ONLY because it was on video.

[goodwithagun]

Absolutely.

[capt B]

Shooting at fleeing autos is really smart. And if you happen to hit the driver, what do you have? A 3000 lb unmanned, uncontrolled missile.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

So what? He's a teenager protecting his mother. You can't expect much from him, other than a juvinal response.

But a highly trained uLEO? We can expect much, much more that violently smashing out windows and shooting at a van full of kids.

Throw both of these thugs off the uLEO payroll, fine them $100,000 for contemptuous and dangerous behavior and throw them into prison.

What part of "to serve and protect" do these (self-proclaimed) "heroes" not understand?

[The_Media_never_lie]

These officers should be given a chance to explain their actions.

[fifedom]

These officers should be given a chance to explain their actions.

If you read the news article, the officer was put on paid administrative leave sometime in October and there was a hearing.

In this or a separate story there were reports of demonstrations to support this guy from the LaRaza bunch and that the police union are getting involved.

We have not heard the last of this. If I had to bet I think this guy will get reinstated after the publicity blows over. And then he will get another hearing the next time when he actually kills somebody.