A New Mexico State police officer who was fired after shooting at a minivan full of children has got his badge back . Taos Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe announced this week that Elias Montoya was one of two new deputies hired out of a pool of 17 . The 12-year veteran was fired in December 2013 after an internal investigation into his use of force during an October 2013 shooting . Video footage showed Montoya firing into a van with five children , aged six to 16 , inside during a chaotic traffic stop involving their mother in Taos , New Mexico . Scroll down for video . Elias Montoya fired into a van with five children , aged six to 16 , inside during a chaotic traffic stop in Taos , New Mexico in 2013 while he worked for the New Mexico State Police . It was announced this week he has a new law enforcement job . The driver of the minivan , mother-of-five Oriana Farrell , of Memphis , Tennessee , faced a number of charges , including aggravated fleeing . Montoya was later offered his job back at New Mexico State Police but chose to resign instead . Hogrefe says Montoya 's record remains clean and he deserved another chance . Ms Farrell , 39 , spoke last September about the terrifying moment she and her children were shot at . She told GMA in September : ' I started thinking about children who have been shot , families who have been shot . I started thinking about Trayvon Martin . ' The highway shootout happened after Farrell earlier had been stopped by a separate state police officer for speeding . Montoya , pictured while serving with the state police , is now a sheriff 's deputy in Taos County . She said that she was unclear that the cop was giving her a ticket when he walked away from her car window and so she drove off . The cop then chased her down in his patrol vehicle and when she stopped for the second time , she refused to get out of the van . When she finally agreed , she jumped back inside as an officer attempted to restrain her . With her younger children screaming and her eldest son Zeke leaving the car to defend his mother , the officer called for back-up cars . As Farrell pulled away in terror , dramatic dash-cam video revealed the moment that Officer Elias Montoya fired three shots at the vehicle . Farrell told ABC : 'Even if I was speeding , that doesn ’ t require being shot at any point . ' Farrell and her teenage son were arrested after police brought them to a stop . She faced charges of child abuse , fleeing and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia for marijuana pipes allegedly found in the van . Montoya said his 'heart sank ' when he realized there were children inside after the shooting . The father-of-three , said that tinted windows in the van kept him from seeing the children inside . 'My heart sank when they finally stopped and I was at the passenger side at that time seeing them get out at gunpoint again , ' he said . ' I could n't believe it that there were that many children in there . ' Oriana Farrell , pictured with her five children in September last year , said there was no excuse for police to open fire on her and her kids in their minivan when a routine traffic stop went awry in 2013 in New Mexico .
Elias Montoya was one of two new deputies hired out of a pool of 17 in Taos County , New Mexico . The 12-year veteran was fired in December 2013 by the New Mexico State Police after an internal investigation into his use of force . He had been accused of using excessive force on three men who were arrested for trespassing at a local bar and then released without charges.