Body-Cam Video Shows Train Hitting Police Car With Woman Handcuffed Inside
Platteville police officers left Yareni Rios-Gonzalez handcuffed inside a cruiser parked on train tracks. When a train came barrelling towards the car she was hit and sustained severe injuries.
On the night of Sept. 16, 2022, Colorado resident Yareni Rios-Gonzalez was stuck in the backseat of a Platteville Police Department cruiser as officers searched her truck. The police had parked that vehicle directly on the train tracks as a train was approaching. Despite the train horn sounding, the police officers didn’t move the car or remove Rios-Gonzalez from the backseat.
The police cruiser was struck by the train with 20-year-old Rios-Gonzalez handcuffed inside, reported The Washington Post. Now the Fort Lupton Police Department has released an edited, eight-minute clip in response to a record request. The clip shows both dashboard-camera footage and body-camera footage of the horrific collision, and it shows events that led to the crash.
Earlier on the night of September 16, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation revealed that a road rage incident involving a gun was reported to local authorities. It allegedly took place just north of Platteville, Colorado, near Denver.
As they were investigating the road rage incident, a Platteville police officer pulled over the truck driven by Rios-Gonzalez. The young woman stopped her truck past a set of train tracks, and the police officer stopped their vehicle directly on the tracks.
Two additional law enforcement officers from Fort Lupton police came to help search Rios-Gonzalez’s truck and help detail her. Body-camera video shows one of those police officers pulling out her gun and taking cover behind a patrol car.
Rios-Gonzalez was ordered by police to drop her cellphone, reported The Washington Post. She was told to kneel and put her hands up. An officer then handcuffed her, and she was placed in the police cruiser that was parked on the railroad tracks.
As Rios-Gonzalez was handcuffed, she kept asking what was happening — expressing confusion as to why she was being detained and asking for her cellphone.
Only a minute later, the train approached. Police officers are seen on video discussing whether Rios-Gonzalez could have tossed something out the window before she was stopped. Meanwhile, the footage revealed that the train horn was sounding more frequently, and it grew louder and louder as it neared the police car.
Only then did a police officer who was standing near the tracks look at the approaching train and start to seemingly panic. He yelled, “Stay back!” Instead of making any attempt to rescue Rios-Gonzalez, he walks quickly away just before the collision.
NBC News reported that Rios-Gonzalez was seriously injured. According to her attorney, Jonathan Stine, she lost some teeth in the collision. She also has multiple fractured ribs, a broken arm, and injuries to both her head and legs. Despite multiple injuries, she is expected to survive.
The police officer who parked the vehicle on the train tracks has been placed on paid administrative leave while the situation is investigated by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. According to CNN, the Weld County district attorney’s office has not filed charges against Rios-Gonzalez. None of the officers have been charged yet, either.
Paul Wilkinson, an attorney for Rios-Gonzalez, told the Denver Post that this all could have been avoided if the Platteville police officer had chosen to park anywhere but on the train tracks.
