Former state
police officer Elias Montoya said his ‘heart sank’ when he realized the
dangerous mistake he made as Oriana Farrell fled a routine traffic stop.
BY STEPHEN REX
BROWN
The former New
Mexico state police officer who fired three shots at a minivan packed with five
kids said “his heart sank” when he realized his mistake.
“My heart sank
when they finally stopped and I was at the passenger side at that time seeing
them get out at gunpoint again," Elias Montoya, 53, told ABC News,
recalling the routine traffic stop gone awry.
"I couldn't
believe it that there were that many children in there."
On Oct. 28 last
year one of Montoya’s fellow officers pulled over the minivan driven by Oriana
Farrell in Taos, N.M., for going 71 mph in a 55 mph zone.
Farrell had her
five children in the minivan, aged 6 to 18.
The stop escalated
into a heated argument and Farrell’s 14-year-old son confronted the officer
A heated argument
between the trooper and Ferrell led her 14-year-old son to join the melee while
a different trooper tried to smash the ride’s passenger-side window.
Montoya — who
arrived with the confrontation in full swing — fired at the van as Ferrell
drove off.
Speaking publicly
for the first time regarding the incident, Montoya insisted to ABC he was
aiming for the tire — not the passengers.
"I'm not
shooting at a human being. I'm shooting at a tire," Montoya said.
After a high-speed
chase Farrell pulled over, and Montoya realized what he’d done.
"If I knew
that there was even one child in that vehicle," he said. "I wouldn't
have done it."
He said it was the
first time he’d fired his weapon after 12 years on the force.
Ferrell was
charged with child abuse, fleeing and misdemeanor possession of drug
paraphernalia for two marijuana pipes she had in the car.
Montoya is
pursuing an appeal of his termination. He was fired for violating trooper rules
regarding the use of deadly force.
