The incident happened on Nov. 16 when Oriana Ferrell and her five children were pulled over by a New Mexico State Police officer for going 71mph in a 55mph zone in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ferrell and the officer argued for quite some time according to reports before she pulled off, beginning the high speed chase.
By the time Ferrell had pulled over for a second time, back up had arrived and she refused to get out of her vehicle. Officers on the scene threatened to pull Ferrell from the car and even proceeded to use a taser on her 14-year-old son, who after the police started smashing the windows with their batons exited the minivan in efforts to engage the officer and calm the escalated situation.
At that point, Ferrell decided to exit the car and talk to police but quickly returned to the vehicle after she was asked to “turn around and face the vehicle.” As more officers arrived, Ferrell sped off, leading them on a 10 minute chase which led to gunfire. After several minutes, officers fired three shots at the back of the minivan despite the fact that five children were in the back seat.