A former police officer from Fort Lupton, Colorado, who left a woman handcuffed inside a patrol car that was then hit by a train will not serve jail time, local media reported.
Ex-officer Jordan Steinke was convicted of reckless endangerment and assault, local media reported on September 15, and sentenced to 30 months supervised probation.
She was acquitted of attempted manslaughter, the report added.
Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, the woman handcuffed in the patrol car, sustained “serious bodily injuries” and was taken to a local hospital to be treated, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Fort Lupton Police said in a statement that officers assisted in stopping the woman in a “high-risk” traffic stop and placed her into the back of a Platteville Police Department car. Then, “within a matter of seconds,” the patrol car was struck by a train.
Bodycam and dashcam footage released by the police department shows the incident on September 16, 2022. Officers can be seen approaching Rios-Gonzalez with at least one gun drawn, and ordering her to put her hands up and exit her car.
Rios-Gonzalez can be heard repeatedly asking officers why she was being arrested. An officer places her in the back seat of a patrol car, before searching Rios-Gonzalez’s vehicle. While officers search the car, a train horn can be heard in the distance.
One officer standing by the patrol car where Rios-Gonzalez was sitting backs away, and another officer can be heard yelling, “Stay back”, before the train collides with the car.
