Yareni Rios-Gonzalez’s $8.5M Settlement and Criminal Charges

Yareni Rios-Gonzalez reached an $8.5 million settlement in early June 2024 with the town of Platteville and the city of Fort Lupton, Colorado, ending her civil lawsuit over the September 2022 incident in which she was handcuffed inside a police SUV parked across active railroad tracks and struck by a Union Pacific freight train. The two municipalities split the payment evenly, and the entire amount was covered by a shared insurance policy, so neither town paid from its own funds.¹²

How She Ended Up on the Tracks

On September 16, 2022, a 911 caller reported that a woman had pointed a gun at another driver during a road-rage encounter in Fort Lupton. Platteville Police Sergeant Pablo Vazquez located Rios-Gonzalez’s vehicle near Highway 85 and County Road 36 in Weld County and made a high-risk traffic stop. He parked his patrol SUV directly across a crossbuck-protected crossing on the Union Pacific main line between Denver and Cheyenne.³

Fort Lupton officers Jordan Steinke and Ryan Thomeczek arrived to help. Steinke handcuffed Rios-Gonzalez, put her in the caged back seat of Vazquez’s SUV, and shut the door. The three officers then walked over to Rios-Gonzalez’s pickup to search for a weapon. None of them realized the patrol SUV was sitting on the rails.⁴

At 7:53:49 p.m., a Union Pacific freight train moving at roughly 40 miles per hour began sounding its horn. The conductor threw the emergency brakes seconds later. Thomeczek, standing next to the SUV’s open passenger door on the tracks, did not warn the others until one second before impact. At 7:54:09 p.m., the train hit the cruiser, shoved it roughly 100 feet down the tracks, and rolled it into a ditch with Rios-Gonzalez trapped inside.⁵³

Her Injuries

Rios-Gonzalez was hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury, a punctured lung, nine broken ribs, a broken arm, and amnesia.⁶ By mid-2024, her attorney Paul Wilkinson said she was “up and moving around” but still dealing with physical and emotional effects that would stay with her for the rest of her life.¹

The Lawsuit and How It Was Paid

Rios-Gonzalez sued in Weld County District Court on January 26, 2023, naming the Platteville and Fort Lupton police departments along with Vazquez, Steinke, and Thomeczek. The 40-page complaint alleged that the officers failed to keep her safe while she was in custody and failed to use the emergency notification system sign posted at the crossing to alert the railroad to police activity on the tracks.⁷⁸

The $8.5 million settlement was paid out of a shared “eroding” insurance policy with a $10 million limit, which also covered the municipalities’ defense costs. By the time mediation started, the two towns had already spent about $1 million on defense, leaving roughly $9 million in available coverage. Fort Lupton and Platteville each contributed half of the settlement through that policy.¹

What Happened to the Officers

All three officers were fired. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reviewed the crash and referred its findings to the Weld County District Attorney’s Office, which filed criminal charges against Steinke and Vazquez on November 7, 2022. Thomeczek was not criminally charged, though he was named in the civil suit.⁹¹⁰

Steinke was charged with felony criminal attempt to commit manslaughter, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment. At a July 2023 bench trial, a judge acquitted her of the manslaughter count and convicted her of misdemeanor assault and reckless endangerment. On September 15, 2023, Weld County District Court Judge Timothy Kerns sentenced her to 30 months of supervised probation, 100 hours of community service, and a firearm prohibition.¹¹¹²

Vazquez was initially charged with five counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment plus obstructing a highway, careless driving, and parking where prohibited. On December 5, 2023, he pleaded guilty to a single count of reckless endangerment under a plea deal and was sentenced to 12 months of unsupervised probation. The charge is to be dismissed and the case sealed if he stays out of trouble during that period. Vazquez said he had believed he cleared the tracks and was focused on the possibility that the suspect had a weapon.¹³⁴

The Charge Against Rios-Gonzalez

Rios-Gonzalez was also charged. On November 7, 2022, prosecutors filed a felony menacing count over the road-rage encounter that had prompted the traffic stop. She resolved the case in late June 2023 by entering a no-contest plea to misdemeanor menacing and was sentenced to one year of probation.¹⁴¹⁵

1
CPR News. Woman Hit by Train While Restrained in Police Car Settles Lawsuit Against Platteville, Fort Lupton
2
CBS News Colorado. Settlement for Colorado Woman Handcuffed in Police Car on Railroad Tracks Struck by Train
3
Railway Age. Situational Unawareness: UP Train Hits Police Cruiser Parked on Tracks With Suspect Handcuffed Inside
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Police1. Colo. Woman Who Was Handcuffed in Cruiser Hit by Train Receives $8.5M Settlement
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Denver7. Woman Hit by Train While Trapped in Patrol Car in Platteville Files Lawsuit Against Officers, Departments
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Criminal Legal News. Woman Left Handcuffed in Parked Cop Car Struck by Train Settles Suit for $8.5 Million
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Denver Post. Colorado Train Police Cruiser Lawsuit
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Police1. Handcuffed Woman Hit by Train While Trapped in Cruiser Files Suit Against Colo. LEOs, PDs
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CBS News Colorado. Train Versus Platteville Police Car Collision Investigation, Weld County District Attorney’s Office
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Halifax CityNews. A Colorado Woman Who Was Handcuffed in a Police Car Hit by a Train Receives an $8.5M Settlement
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ABC News. Cop Found Guilty of Misdemeanors for Placing Woman in Patrol Car Hit by Train
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KSAT. Former Colorado Officer Gets Probation for Putting Woman in Police Vehicle That Was Hit by a Train
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Denver Post. Platteville Train Crash: Pablo Vasquez Pleads Guilty
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9News. Officers Charged; Woman Hit by Train in Police Car
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USC Annenberg Media. Two Police Officers Facing Court Battles After Police Stop Turns Into Tragic Incident