A police officer standing near a patrol vehicle parked on Weld County railroad tracks last week ran for safety seconds before a train — its horn blaring — slammed into the SUV, seriously injuring a woman in police custody who had been left in the back of the vehicle.
It took two other officers, who had been searching the woman’s pickup truck for weapons, at least 15 seconds to react to the train barreling toward the police cruiser while blasting its horn, warning of a coming collision, according to Fort Lupton Police Department video footage released Friday.
Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 20, of Greeley suffered multiple broken bones and a head injury when the train smashed the Platteville Police Department patrol vehicle around 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16, on railroad tracks near U.S. 85 and Weld 38.
Her attorney, Paul Wilkinson, on Friday said he is amazed she survived the train’s impact while handcuffed and trapped in the backseat of the police vehicle.
He also said it was hard to understand why police officers parked on the railroad tracks in the first place and then failed to move the vehicle once his client was detained inside.
“It’s kind of unbelievable they did something like this,” Wilkinson said.
Rios-Gonzalez’s injuries include a broken arm that has needed surgery, nine broken ribs, a fractured sternum, a back injury and a head injury, Wilkinson said.
Although Rios-Gonzalez was unconscious when she arrived at an area hospital, she recalls the crash, Wilkinson said.
“She saw it coming and could hear the horn,” Wilkinson said. “She was trying to get the police officers’ attention, screaming at them. She tried unlocking the door. She had her hands behind her back and was frantically trying to unlock the door.”
Wilkinson blames the officers for her injuries.
“I don’t think you ever park on a train track. Ever,” he said. “That would have avoided the whole situation. You just never park on a train track. You have to park somewhere else.”
On Friday night, a Platteville police officer stopped Rios-Gonzalez after Fort Lupton police received a report about a road rage incident involving a gun. Rios-Gonzalez pulled over just past the railroad tracks on Weld 38, and the Platteville police officer stopped behind her car, with this patrol vehicle on the tracks.
The eight minutes of edited police footage released Friday shows two Fort Lupton officers arriving to provide backup to the Platteville police officer. They coax Rios-Gonzalez from her pickup truck, handcuff her and put her in the back of the Platteville patrol vehicle, which remained on the train tracks.
The footage, which includes body camera video and a patrol vehicle’s dashcam video, was obtained by The Denver Post through an open records request.
The Platteville officer and one Fort Lupton officer then searched the pickup truck for other people. Once they finished, the Platteville officer and a second Fort Lupton officer began searching for weapons. The other Fort Lupton officer, who can be seen in the video holding a rifle, returned to the area near the patrol car where Rios-Gonzalez was in custody.
As the officers searching the truck discussed whether or not Rios-Gonzalez might have tossed a gun out a window before she pulled over, a train’s horn can be heard in the distance. But it took the two officers at least 15 seconds to notice it, the video footage shows.
One officer screamed an expletive as they realize a Union Pacific train is coming toward the parked patrol vehicle. The other yelled for his colleague to “stay back,” the footage shows.
The other Fort Lupton officer, who was standing near the Platteville patrol vehicle with Rios-Gonazlez inside, turned back and forth a couple of times as the train approached, police camera footage shows. He ultimately turned and ran for cover behind a Fort Lupton police car.
The footage shows the train slam into the Platteville police vehicle — its front passenger-side door still open — and push it several yards. The officers immediately called for help, saying a patrol car had been struck by a train.
“Get us medical, emergent. The suspect was in the vehicle that was hit by the train,” an officer says into her radio.
The train crew was not injured, Robynn Tysver, a Union Pacific spokeswoman, said in an email.
The crash remains under investigation by three agencies.
The Fort Lupton Police Department is investigating the original road rage incident. The Colorado State Patrol is investigating the crash between the train and the police car, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is investigating how Rios-Gonzalez sustained injuries while in police custody.
Rios-Gonzalez has not been charged in connection with the road rage incident, said Krista Henery, a spokeswoman for the Weld County District Attorney’s Office.
None of the agencies involved in the incident or following investigations have released the names of the officers or provided updates on their duty status.
Staff writer Jacob Factor contributed to this report.
