Experts react to train smashing into Platteville cruiser with woman inside
New video obtained by CBS News Colorado from Fort Lupton Police Department on Friday shows the moment a train crashed into a Platteville police cruiser on Sept. 16 when it was left on train tracks during a response. A woman in police custody was still in the back seat when the cruiser was hit. She survived and has remained in the hospital with serious injuries since then.
Law enforcement originally named 20-year-old Yareni Rios-Gonzalez of Greeley as the woman who was in police custody when the train hit the cruiser she was in.
In the 8-minute video that was shared with CBS News Colorado, edited recording shows the approach of the vehicle Rios-Gonzalez was driving, the moment of the crash and moments that took place afterward.
Four officers with both Platteville Police Department and Fort Lupton Police Department were originally responding to a reported road rage incident with a gun on Highway 85.
Platteville officers found the vehicle Rios-Gonzalez was in first on US 85 at County Road 36. The officer in the driver seat stopped her car just past the railroad track, and the police cruiser pulled up behind her with their cruiser on the tracks. Then, Fort Lupton officers showed up, and together, they all attempted a high-risk traffic stop.
RELATED: Investigation ongoing into train-police car crash that hurt woman in back seat
"It is easy to look at this going backward saying they shouldn't have parked on the train tracks in the first place. But, they have a certain position they want that vehicle," said Richard Kolko, a retired FBI Special Agent.
Kolko, who reviewed the body camera footage provided to CBS News Colorado, said parking on the train tracks during the initial traffic stop wasn't as much of a concern as placing the suspect in that same car.
"As soon as you handcuff somebody you are responsible for their safety. From that moment until the moment you get them back to the police station and put them in the jail cell. Every aspect of their safety. Are they in the car safe? Are the buckled up? Do they need water? Are they having any medical issues, do they need first aid?" Kolko said.
"Certainly something as simple as putting them in a car parked on railroad tracks, even if the car had been parked there for the initial traffic stop, the officer should have said, 'Hey, I need to move this car and put it in a safe spot,'" he continued. "Because that assures the safety of the person in the back seat."
Kolko, and several other people who are either current or former law enforcement officers, told CBS News Colorado the officers on scene should have relocated the vehicle right after the suspect was in handcuffs.
"The next move should've been to get the car off of those tracks," Kolko said.
