Trial begins for police officer who placed handcuffed woman in police car parked on railroad tracks
Witnesses are speaking publicly for the first time in one of the trials pertaining to a police officer who put a handcuffed woman in the back of a police car, which was struck by a train moments later.
The trial is for Fort Lupton Police Officer Jordan Steinke, who faces two charges for the crash that left the handcuffed woman with serious injuries.
CBS News Colorado reporter Justin Adams has been covering Monday's portion of the trial.
So far it's focused on the events that led to the patrol car being hit by a train.
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Two witnesses were brought to the stand Monday.
The first witness was Colton Breckenfelder, who called police and reported that Yareni Rios-Gonzalez allegedly followed him and pointed a gun at him out of her car.
The next witness was Ralph Andrew Olivas, a locomotive engineer with Union Pacific Railroads who was on the train that hit the patrol car.
Olivas said he's been an engineer on trains from Denver to Cheyenne, Wyoming for about six years -- a route that includes about 98 railroad crossings. The train he was working on on the night of the crash weighed over 11,000 tons, he said.
Olivas and his conductor saw the police cars' emergency lights from a distance but because of the curve of the track and their distance, they didn't realize any of the cars were actually on the track.
By the time he and his conductor realized there was a police car on the tracks, they were only about 150 feet away while traveling at about 45 or 47 MPH, he told prosecutors. He said he immediately hit the emergency brake while continuing to blow the train's horn and the conductor was doing the same.
After the collision, Olivas said it still took about three-quarters of a mile for the train to come to a complete stop.
In court, video from Steinke's bodycam was shown. The moments during and immediately after the collision, among other moments in court, Steinke was seen crying. At other moments, she appears to cover her ears, eyes and mouth as her bodycam video footage is played for the court. In the bodycam footage, Steinke appears distraught while crying, breathing heavily and repeating "oh my god."
Other witnesses testified Monday, including another Fort Lupton officer who responded to the initial car stop.
Steinke has been charged with felony attempted reckless manslaughter and misdemeanor reckless endangerment. She's accused of placing Rios-Gonzalez in the back of Platteville Police Sgt. Pablo Vazquez's car, which he parked on the railroad tracks.
She was also initially charged with second-degree felony assault but prosecutors dropped that charge back in February.
Steinke's car was parked behind Vazquez's and not on the tracks, a crash investigation shows.
In opening statements Monday, Steinke's defense attorney Mallory Revel argued Steinke was more concerned with the safety of the officers at the scene, so she placed Rios-Gonzalez in the nearest police car available to continue helping officers clear Rios-Gonzalez's truck.
Her attorney goes on to say that it can't be proven that Steinke knew Vazquez's patrol car was parked on the track because it was dark and the tracks were flush with the road, as opposed to raised.
"This case is not about what she should have known, but what she actually knew," Revel said.
Steinke was placed on administrative leave after the collision and remains on leave, according to the Fort Lupton Police Department.
Her trial is expected to wrap up Friday.
Vazquez has been charged with reckless endangerment, obstructing a highway or other passageway, careless driving and parking where prohibited. He's also been labeled a "liability risk" by former colleagues. A trial date has not yet been set for him, but he's due back in court for a pre-trial hearing on Sept. 14 in Weld County.
The entire incident, which took place in September 2022, was captured by the officers' dashcams and bodyworn cameras.
The officers are also facing a civil lawsuit against Rios-Gonzalez.
