Officer on leave after putting woman in police car hit by train, Colorado cops say
A Platteville police officer who placed a woman suspected of road rage in a police car that was then hit by a train is on leave, Colorado officials told news outlets.
Platteville Police Chief Carl Dwyer told KDVR the officer involved was put on paid administrative leave while an investigation into the incident Friday, Sept. 16, continues.
Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 20, of Greeley remains hospitalized with serious injuries but is expected to survive, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Monday, Sept. 19.
A Platteville police officer investigating a road rage incident stopped her at 7:30 p.m. near U.S. 85 and Weld County Road 38, McClatchy News reported.
Police radio traffic indicated “someone called 911 and said the woman had been tailgating their vehicle and pulled out a gun,” KUSA reported.
When the officer pulled her over, Rios-Gonzalez stopped past the railroad tracks and the officer stopped behind her on the tracks, McCLatchy News reported.
Two Fort Lupton police officers arrived and detained Rios-Gonzalez. They placed her in the Platteville officer’s patrol car and went to search her vehicle.
A train traveling northbound hit the police car with Rios-Gonzalez inside. No officers were hurt in the incident.
“I thought I’d seen, in nearly 50 years in this field, just about every kind of incident, but this is one for the books,” George Kirkham, a police standards and procedures expert, told KMGH.
“You have to be conscious of what’s going on and follow your training,” Kirkham told the station. “And this is so basic. It’s beyond me how any rational person could do something like this.”
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Colorado State Patrol and Fort Lupton police are investigating.
Dwyer told KDVR that Platteville police are cooperating in the investigation.
Platteville is a town of 3,000 people about 35 miles north of Denver.
There were 236 train crossing fatalities and 668 crossing injuries in 2021 across the U.S., according to Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit group promoting rail safety.
This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 7:13 AM with the headline "Officer on leave after putting woman in police car hit by train, Colorado cops say."