Video shows train slamming into Colorado police car with woman handcuffed inside
Global News
A lawyer for the trapped woman says his client tried to get the attention of officers before the train smashed into the police cruiser, where she was handcuffed inside.
Video released by police in Colorado shows the harrowing moment a train crashed into a police car that had a woman handcuffed inside.
The Fort Lupton Police Department shared video of the incident, which took place on Sept. 16.
According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 20, sustained serious injuries when the back of the patrol car was hit by a train near the town of Platteville, near Denver, just after 7:30 p.m.
Rios-Gonzalez had been detained moments earlier after officers responded to what Fort Lupton police called a “high-risk vehicle stop” in a Facebook post.
Edited bodycam and dashcam footage released by police shows officers approaching Rios-Gonzalez with at least one gun drawn, and ordering her to put her hands up and exit her car.
In the video, Rios-Gonzalez can be heard asking officers multiple times why she is being arrested. The video shows an officer place her in the back of the patrol vehicle before searching her pickup truck. A train horn can be heard in the distance as police look through the vehicle.
An officer standing beside the car can be seen backing away as another officer yells “stay back.” Seconds later, the train smashes into the side of the car where Rios-Gonzalez was sitting. The passenger-side front door of the vehicle was open and the car can be seen sliding several feet down the tracks.
Rios-Gonzalez’s lawyer, Jonathan Stine, told NBC News Monday that his client remains in hospital. He told the outlet she lost teeth as a result of the impact, as well as suffering a broken arm, multiple fractured ribs and other injuries to her head and legs.