Trial is due to begin today, for one of the police officers who left a woman locked in a patrol car in northern Colorado, where it ultimately got slammed into by a train…
(Car on Tracks Case :41)
The incident happened almost a year ago, back in September. Jordan Steinke (STINE-key) of the Fort Lupton Police put the handcuffed woman, who was accused of road rage, in the back seat of a patrol car while it was parked on the railroad tracks. An oncoming freight train smashed into the car a short time later, carrying it some distance down the tracks. Yareni Rios survived, but was seriously hurt. On the charges she’d been placed in that car for, felony menacing was dismissed. On a misdemeanor menacing count, she pleaded no contest and got a one-year deferred sentence and 10 hours of community service. A charge of second-degree assault against Steinke was dismissed earlier this year. He still faces the misdemeanor of reckless endangerment, and the felony criminal attempt to commit manslaughter. The officer who parked his car on the tracks in the first place, Pablo Vasquez, is charged with several misdemeanors.