Woman who was detained in a police car and hit by a train reaches settlement with Platteville and Fort Lupton

Updated on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, 3:58 p.m.

Yareni Rios, who suffered a traumatic brain injury and numerous broken bones when a freight train struck the police car in which she was handcuffed, has settled her lawsuit against the cities of Platteville and Fort Lupton, her attorney said Tuesday.

Paul Wilkinson, Rios’ attorney, said the $8.5 million settlement was reached during mediation. The money will not come directly from taxpayers.

The municipalities in Platteville and Fort Lupton are both covered by a $10 million write-off insurance policy, also known as a “Pac-Man” policy, Wilkinson said. Under those terms, defense costs are paid directly from the policy itself, meaning the longer Rios pursues the case, the less money there will be left at the end. Wilkinson said the defense had already spent about $1 million on the case when mediation began.

Alternatively, compensation could have been paid by increasing the cities’ property tax rates.

“This is an excellent and hard-fought result, particularly considering the small communities affected,” Wilkinson said.

The September 17, 2022, crash occurred near Highway 85 and County Road 38 in Weld County. Former Platteville police officer Pablo Vasquez stopped Rios, then 20, after a 911 caller accused her of pointing a gun at her.

After arriving to assist Vasquez, former Fort Lupton police officer Jordan Steinke handcuffed Rios and placed her in Vasquez’s police vehicle. Neither officer noticed that the police SUV was illegally parked on nearby railroad tracks, even though body camera footage showed several railroad crossing signs just feet from the vehicle.

While Steinke and Vasquez were searching Rios’ pickup truck, a freight train approached. The conductor sounded the train’s horn several times, but the officers did not realize what was about to happen.

Vasquez’s vehicle was crushed by the train and thrown into a nearby ditch, with Rios trapped in the back seat.

Wilkinson said he spoke with Rios on Tuesday to inform her of the settlement. He said Rios is a private person and does not want to speak publicly. But her recovery has progressed, and Wilkinson said she seemed in good spirits on the phone.

“She’s up and moving. She’s still recovering from some physical and emotional effects that she’s going to feel for the rest of her life. But considering she was hit by a train, she’s doing OK,” Wilkinson said.

Both Vasquez and Steinke were fired from their respective police departments following the accident and faced criminal charges.

A judge convicted Steinke in a single-judge trial in 2023 of reckless endangerment and assault, both misdemeanors. She was also charged with attempted manslaughter, a felony, but was acquitted. Steinke was sentenced to 30 months probation and was required to perform 100 hours of community service.

Vasquez pleaded guilty in December to parking on the tracks and reckless endangerment. He was sentenced to 12 months of unsupervised probation, but the misdemeanor charge will be dropped and the case closed if he serves that time without incident.

When CPR News contacted Fort Lupton police, they referred all questions to their law firm.

“Because the settlement is not finalized and the case has not been dismissed, my office is limiting our response to the first media inquiry we received today,” attorney Eric Ziporin said in an email. “At this time, I can tell you that the amount of the settlement will be split equally between the City of Fort Lupton and the City of Platteville. The entire amount of the settlement will be paid by the insurance of both companies.”

Platteville police have not responded to a request for comment.

Editor’s note: Wilkinson confirmed to CPR News that his client’s last name is Rios, although her last name was previously listed as Rios-Gonzalez in some documents.

Tony Gorman of CPR News contributed to this report.