FORT LUPTON, COLORADO: A Colorado police officer has been found guilty of two misdemeanors for placing a handcuffed woman in a patrol SUV that was later struck by a train near Denver in 2022. On Friday, July 28, Fort Lupton police Officer Jordan Steinke was convicted of reckless endangerment and third-degree assault in connection with the September 2022 crash that left Yareni Rios-Gonzalez seriously injured.
Judge Timothy Kerns ruled Steinke not guilty of attempted reckless manslaughter, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove that the officer “knowingly intended to harm Ms Rios-Gonzalez." “There’s no reasonable doubt that placing a handcuffed person in the back of a patrol car, parked on railroad tracks, creates a substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm by the train,” Kerns said. When justifying his guilty decision in the misdemeanors, Kerns claimed Steinke did disregard "what she consciously observed," citing the presence of railroad tracks and signs on the highway. Steinke, who had renounced her right to have the case settled by a jury, knelt and sobbed after the verdict was read, according to CNN.
Who is Jordan Steinke?
In September 2022, Steinke was conducting a traffic check during which officials detained Rios-Gonzales, who was accused of brandishing a gun at another car during a road rage case earlier in the evening. The officer handcuffed Rios-Gonzales and placed her into the cruiser of Platteville police officer Pablo Vasque, who arrived first and parked in the middle of a railroad crossing. She was in the car for about two minutes before a freight train rammed the vehicle. The terrifying accident was recorded on police body and dash cameras before the footage was released later by the Platteville Police Department.
Rios-Gonzalez survived the crash but sustained severe injuries, including a fractured tibia, broken arm, nine broken ribs and a fractured sternum. During the trial, prosecutors contended that Steinke was aware the police vehicle was positioned next to railway lines but chose to ignore the evident danger. "At the time she elected to place Yareni Rios-Gonzalez in the Platteville patrol car parked on the railroad tracks instead of her patrol unit that was safely parked to the west of the railroad tracks," Weld County Deputy District Attorney Lacy Vells said in court this week, according to ABC. Meanwhile, Steinke argued that she saw the railroad tracks but did not "perceive" the fact that the location was a railroad crossing.
When will Jordan Steinke be sentenced?
"I am sure I saw the tracks... but I did not perceive them," Steinke said when pressed by prosecutors. The officer also stated that if she had known the car was parked on railway tracks, she would not have allowed Rios-Gonzalez inside and that she had "trusted" that Vazquez’s vehicle "was in a secure location at that time." Vazquez has also been charged with reckless endangerment along with other charges in connection with the event. For his ongoing case, he is scheduled to make his next court appearance on September 14. Meanwhile, Steinke’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 15.
