A woman who was seriously injured when the parked patrol car she was being held in was struck by a freight train filed a lawsuit against police Thursday, accusing three officers of acting recklessly and failing in their duty to care for her while she was in jail. in his custody.
Yareni Ríos was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car that was parked on the train tracks on September 16, 2022. The lawsuit alleges that the train tracks were “clearly visible” to the arresting officer, Jordan Steinke. , and she was standing. she over them as she put Rios in the driver’s side back seat of Sgt. de Platteville’s squad car. Pablo Vazquez.
Both Steinke, who worked for the Fort Lupton Police Department, and Vazquez, who is also named in the lawsuit, are being criminally prosecuted in the crash. A third officer who has not been criminally charged is accused in the lawsuit of failing to stop Rios from boarding the patrol car on the tracks and failing to try to help her escape from it when she heard the train approaching.
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The rear passenger-side door was left open and Ríos, previously identified by authorities as Yareni Ríos-González, yelled for help and tried to get out after hearing the train, the lawsuit says. However, he was unable to get out of the caged back seat because it is designed to prevent suspects from escaping, he said.
Rios was arrested after a report of an alleged road rage incident involving a weapon prior to the accident and has since been charged with felony menacing.
A screenshot from police body camera footage shows the moment before a freight train collided with a parked police car on the tracks with Yareni Ríos-González being held in the back seat.
(Platteville Police Department)
Lawyers for Steinke and Vazquez did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. The Platteville and Fort Lupton police departments, also named in the lawsuit, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
According to the lawsuit, as the train approached, Vázquez and Steinke focused on searching Ríos’s truck, not the train, which was captured on a police body camera. About 30 seconds after the train hit the passenger side of the trooper going about 50 mph. Vázquez asked if Ríos was inside and she said “Oh my God, yes, he was!” he said.
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After the crash, Vázquez told other officers in body camera footage made public that he thought he had cleared the tracks when he parked his squad car behind Ríos’s truck to arrest her. He said that he was focused on her because he was worried about the guns.
Vázquez also said he was unaware that the other officer he was working with, identified in the lawsuit as Steinke, had put Ríos in his patrol car until he was struck by the train. He said the “saving grace” was that Rios was placed on the wrong side of the vehicle.
