A train collided with a police car that was parked on the railroad tracks with a suspect inside, body camera video of the moment shows.
According to Fox News, a Platteville Police Department officer pulled over Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 20, who was suspected of being involved in a road rage incident near Fort Lupton, Colorado on the night of Sept. 16. Gonzales pulled over just across a set of railroad tracks and the officer parked behind her on the tracks.
Video of the arrest shows two officers scrambling to get away from the parked police car as a train whistle blares in the background. Seconds later, the train crashes into the car.
Officers from Fort Lupton had arrived on scene before the crash and placed Gonzalez in the patrol vehicle that was parked on the tracks. She was arrested on suspicion of felony menacing.
The handcuffed suspect inside the police car was severely injured in the incident, Fox reported, suffering nine broken ribs, as well as other injuries on her hip and legs.
The Platteville Police officer involved in the incident was placed on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated, Chief Carl Dwyer told Fox.
According to Operation Lifesaver, a non-profit group which advocates for rail safety, there were more than 2,000 vehicle-train collisions at highway-rail grade crossings last year. The incidents cased 235 fatalities and 669 injuries.
The group’s website states that drivers and pedestrians should “always expect a train” because train schedules often change.
“The average locomotive weighs about 400,000 pounds or 200 tons; it can weigh up to 6,000 tons. This makes the weight ratio of a car to a train proportional to that of a soda can to a car. We all know what happens to a soda can hit by a car,” the website states.
In June, three people were killed and four others were injured after a train slammed into a car, sending it flying off a dirt driveway and into another vehicle, a California Highway Patrol officer said at the time.
