Yareni Rios-Gonzalez was pulled over in 2022 by Colorado police responding to a road rage incident involving a gun. The woman was handcuffed and placed in the back of patrol car parked on railroad tracks. Minutes later, a train plowed into the cruiser.
An $8.5 million settlement has been awarded to a Colorado woman who was handcuffed and trapped in a police cruiser when a high-speed freight train plowed into her at a railroad crossing.
Yareni Rios-Gonzalez suffered serious head injuries, a broken sternum, a broken arm and multiple fractured ribs when a train slammed into the Platteville Police Department SUV in September 2022.
The woman, who was 20 at the time, had been placed in the back seat after she was stopped by officers investigating a road rage incident that involved a woman with a gun, authorities said.
As the train barreled through the railroad crossing, Rios-Gonzalez was heard screaming for help on police bodycam footage from officers at the scene.
The Colorado city of Fort Lupton and the town of Platteville agreed this week to the settlement, according to a statement from Fort Lupton police.
“This voluntary settlement is to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, recognizes the gravity of this matter, and allows all parties to move forward,” the department said.
The settlement will be split equally between the town and city, with payment provided by their insurers, authorities said.
Last summer, a judge convicted Fort Lupton Police officer Jordan Steinke of misdemeanor assault and reckless endangerment, but acquitted her of felony attempted reckless manslaughter.
She wept during her sentencing hearing, saying she didn't realize that the cruiser, which belonged to another police agency, had been parked on the tracks. She also apologized to Rios-Gonzalez.
“What happened that night has haunted me for 364 days,” Steinke said then. “I remember your cries and your screams.”
She was ordered to serve 30 months of supervised probation and to perform 100 hours of community service. Steinke was fired from the department after her conviction, authorities said.
Bodycam footage showed the 2022 stop of Rios-Gonzalez by Pablo Vazquez, then a Platteville police sergeant. Steinke is seen taking the woman into custody, handcuffing her, and placing her in the back of Vazquez's patrol car.
A train then roars into the railroad crossing, slamming into the police SUV and sending it flying for about half a mile, police said.
Vazquez was charged with five misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment. He reached an agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count of reckless endangerment for parking his cruiser on the tracks. He was sentenced to 12 months of unsupervised probation.
Vazquez was also fired by his department.
