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Police officers charged for leaving handcuffed woman inside cop car on train tracks before locomotive crash

Woman inside vehicle also faces a charge in connection with a road rage incident

Noelle Phillips
Denver Post
A still image from video footage provided by the Fort Lupton Police Department shows a train moments before it hit a Platteville Police Department vehicle that had been parked on the tracks on Sept. 16, 2022. A woman who had been taken into custody was inside the vehicle and seriously injured in the crash.
Fort Lupton Police Department/Courtesy photo

Two police officers face criminal charges for leaving a woman handcuffed in the back of a police SUV parked on railroad tracks and failing to move the vehicle as a train was barreling down the tracks.

Fort Lupton Police Department officer Jordan Steinke is charged with one count of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter, one count of second-degree assault and one count of reckless endangerment, according to a news release from the 19th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Steinke is on administrative leave, Fort Lupton chief John Fryar said.



Platteville Police Department Sgt. Pablo Vazquez is charged with one count of reckless endangerment, one count of obstructing a highway or other passageway, one count of careless driving and one count of parking where prohibited, the DA’s news release said.

Efforts to reach anyone at the Platteville Police Department about Vazquez’s duty status were unsuccessful. He is still listed as an employee on the department’s website.



Read the full story at DenverPost.com.


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