Colorado

Video Shows Train Slamming Into Police Vehicle With Handcuffed Woman Inside

“It’s indescribable,” an attorney for the 20-year-old woman said who plans to sue on her behalf. “You cannot describe it unless you actually see it — how irresponsible this was.” 

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The woman that was detained inside a police cruiser parked on railroad tracks that was hit by a train earlier this month is now on a long path to recovery.

The crash happened Sept. 17 after police in Platteville, Colorado, pulled over Yareni Rios-Gonzalez following a 911 report about a road rage incident with a gun, according to NBC affiliate 9News. A Platteville officer parked the cruiser on the tracks while a Fort Lupton officer placed Rios-Gonzalez inside.

Shortly after the arrest, video obtained by the local news station shows a Union Pacific freight train colliding with the police car. 

Rios-Gonzalez, of Greeley, is recovering at home with nine broken ribs, a broken arm, a fractured sternum and numerous other injuries to her head and back, her attorney, Paul Wilkinson, told 9News.

“She is bedridden,” attorney Paul Wilkinson told 9News, who added that she also later learned she had a fractured leg. “She’s still really, really hurt.”

The Weld County District Attorney’s Office told 9News on Monday that a potential road rage case against Rios-Gonzalez is still being reviewed. There are no charges yet for Rios-Gonzalez for the road rage incident. The police officers involved in the train crash incident have also not been charged.

The names of the officers involved have not been released. Platteville Police Chief Carl Dwyer previously told NBC News that the officer involved from his department was placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is completed.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said an officer with the Platteville Police Department found the vehicle and stopped it near U.S. 85 and County Road 36. Rios-Gonzalez stopped just beyond the railroad tracks, and the patrol officer stopped behind it on the tracks.

Two Fort Lupton officers arrived, CBI said, and the officers conducted a high-risk traffic stop. They detained Rios-Gonzalez on suspicion of felony menacing and put her in the back of the Platteville Police car, according to CBI.

Videos released on Sept. 23 by the Platteville and Fort Lupton police departments show that officers were not initially aware that Rios-Gonzalez was in the patrol vehicle when it was hit by a train. 

The Fort Lupton Police Department provided a video that is eight minutes long and contains edited portions of clips after the local news station filed a records request.

As the officers searching the truck discussed whether Rios-Gonzalez might have tossed a gun out a window before she pulled over, a train horn could be heard in the distance. One officer shouted an expletive and said, “Oh my God” multiple times. Another officer could be heard yelling, “Stay back!” An officer standing by the patrol car that Rios-Gonzalez was in ran before it was struck by the train.

About two seconds after that, the train slams into the patrol car and is pushing it down the tracks.

About 20 seconds later, the Platteville officer is heard saying, "Hey, was she in there?"

He moves closer to the Fort Lupton officer and repeats himself, saying, "Was she in there? Was she in there? Was she in there?”

The Fort Lupton officer replies, "Oh my God, yes she was.”

She immediately radios for medical assistance. Both officers run toward the crash scene, but the clip ends before they arrive.

Some of the video released shows the moments when police pulled over Rios-Gonzales, who was a suspect in an earlier road rage call and placed her in the police patrol car on the tracks.

In that portion of the video, Rios-Gonzales appears to comply with officers' requests and answers their questions.

At one point, it's noted that a "round" is found near the driver's side door and a gun holster is found in the vehicle. Just before the video provided to 9NEWS ends, an officer searching the vehicle is heard saying, "There's your gun.”

Stine, Rios-Gonzalez’s attorney, who in an interview on Monday to NBCNews said he plans to sue on her behalf, described the officers’ actions as “unspeakably negligent.”

“It’s potentially criminal and beyond my comprehension how this could happen the way that it happened,” he said. “It’s indescribable. You cannot describe it unless you actually see it — how irresponsible this was.”

Stine said Rios-Gonzalez worked as a TSA agent and “is very upset about what happened.”


NBC News and NBC affiliate 9News contributed to this report.

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