Remember that crazy black woman who fled from the police twice? Well, a grand jury indicted her.
The Story:
A Tennessee woman arrested after leading police officers on a high-speed chase through Talpa in a minivan with her five children last month appeared in court Tuesday (Nov. 12) for arraignment on a grand jury indictment.
Oriana Ferrell will face charges of intentional abuse of a child, aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer and possession of drug paraphernalia following the Oct. 28 pursuit.
The attorney representing Ferrell, however, suggested during her arraignment that the case would “go nowhere” and argued that law enforcement officers were the ones who had endangered the defendant’s children when they fired on her vehicle in an attempt to stop the minivan.
“There was no reason at all to chase her down,” lawyer Alan Maestas told Eighth Judicial District Judge Jeff McElroy, referring to the pursuit that began when Ferrell allegedly drove away from a New Mexico State Police officer during a traffic stop.
An officer stopped her on State Road 518 near Talpa for driving in excess of the speed limit, according to a statement of probable cause filed in Taos Magistrate Court.
After being issued the citation, the officer wrote that Ferrell proceeded to drive north in her Kia Sedona minivan after declining to pay the fine or return to Taos to contest it before a judge.
The officer followed the 39-year-old Memphis resident for about one half-mile at which point she pulled to the side of the road. A struggle ensued, the officer wrote, as he attempted to remove Ferrell from the vehicle and was confronted by her 14-year-old son.
Two other officers arrived, according to court documents, and the family locked themselves inside the vehicle. The arresting officer wrote that he smashed the passenger side window with his baton before Ferrell drove away again. A colleague fired three rounds at the rear tires “in an attempt to keep the vehicle from leaving,” he wrote.
The officers pursued Ferrell down State Highway 518 before turning north on State Highway 68 and proceeding at speeds of up to 100 mph, according to court documents.
Ferrell brought the minivan to a halt in front of the main entrance to Hotel Don Fernando, the arresting officer wrote. Ferrell and her 14-year-old son were then arrested at gunpoint without incident.
via Tennessee mother indicted for high-speed chase in Taos County – The Taos News: News.