The Platteville Police Department has placed one of its officers on administrative leave after a 20-year-old woman was seriously injured when police left her in a cruiser that was struck by a train.
On Monday evening, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation identified the woman as Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, from Greeley. She remains in the hospital, authorities said in a news release, and is expected to survive.
Police Chief Carl Dwyer, in an email, didn’t divulge the name of the officer who was placed on paid leave. He declined to answer other questions about the incident.
The incident occurred around 7:30 pm. Friday near U.S. 85 and Weld County Road 38, just north of Platteville.
Police were responding to an initial report of alleged road rage involving a firearm in Fort Lupton when a Platteville officer located a vehicle and made a traffic stop, CBI said in its original news release.
Rios-Gonzalez pulled over just beyond the railroad tracks, with the officer stopping on the tracks behind her vehicle, CBI officials said.
Officers then detained the 20-year-old in the cruiser on suspicion of felony menacing when the train struck the police vehicle.
Separate pieces of the investigation are being conducted by CBI and Fort Lupton police.
