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Woman Wins $8.5 Million Settlement After Being Hit By A Train While Handcuffed In The Back Of A Police Car
Colorado Woman Wins $8.5 Million Settlement After She Was Hit By A Train While Handcuffed In The Back Of A Police Car
A Colorado woman is going viral after becoming $8 million richer in the oddest way. The woman Yareni Rios, is now a millionaire a following a civil lawsuit she won against her two local police departments after she was hit by a train while handcuffed in the back of a police car.
The near-fatal accident happened back in 2022 when Sgt. Pablo Vazquez, an officer from Platteville, CO Police Department, pulled over Yareni Rios for a road rage incident where she was allegedly “menacing with a handgun”.
According to AP News, Jordan Steinke and Ryan Thomeczek, two other officers from Ft. Lupton, another local police station, pulled up to the scene in Platteville to assist with the arrest as the incident was happening in their city.
— Peter Dredd (@PeterDredd) October 18, 2024
Steinke escorted Rios, who was 20 at the time, to Vazquez’s patrol car, which was oddly parked on the train tracks. In the body-cam footage, once could hear the horn of the incoming train as they put her inside. Unfortunately, the officers didn’t notice until it was too late.
Upon noticing the incoming train, all the officers ran away from the vehicle, leaving Rios in the car, screaming and handcuffed, unable to get out in time enough. The patrol car was destroyed on impact while the woman suffering critical injuries including a broken arm and severe head trauma.
After two years, she filed a civil lawsuit against the three officers and their respective police departments. She claimed that they were reckless in their care of her, which led to the almost-deadly train crash.
Ultimately, Rios was awarded a whooping $8.5 million, which both police departments will split. Two of the officers were criminally charged and convicted of misdemeanors, and have since lost their jobs.
