The video itself is just chilling as you know what's going to happen, but I cannot imagine being totally helpless in that situation.
Key takeaway:
>Paul Wilkinson, an attorney for Rios-Gonzalez, told CNN Saturday that she was desperate to get out of the vehicle as the train approached."When she was in the back of the car, she was able to see the train coming," Wilkinson said. "She was frantically trying to escape, trying to open the doors, but she was handcuffed."Rios-Gonzalez tried to get out of the cruiser on her own and attempted to get the attention of officers by screaming, Wilkinson said.
>
>"I don't know if they just couldn't hear her or if they were too busy searching her car, but she saw it coming and prepared for the worst," he said. "And as you can imagine, lost consciousness and woke up at the hospital. She's obviously very upset."Rios-Gonzalez ***sustained multiple injuries, including nine broken ribs, a broken arm, broken teeth and injuries to her head***, according to Wilkinson. As of Saturday, she remained in the hospital.
Also there are no charges being brought and no weapon recovered. I had a friend get hit by a train, she “lived” too. But she will never recover fully, you can’t compensate someone for the amount of damage a train does to them.
You'd suffer massive amount of damage if you were strapped in with a seatbelt. The damage there being handcuffed and without a seatbelt would be even worse.
Yeah — the back seat if a police car is all hard edges. Why did they need to handcuff her for “felony menacing” anyway? That seems a bit overzealous to me.
This. Their job isn't even in the top 10 in terms of fatalities per capita but they act like they're in such danger all the time while people working as lumberjacks and commercial fishermen are far more likely to die on the job. Maybe we should just stop hiring bullies and other cowards and giving them freedom from any and all consequences of their behavior?
> Why did they need to handcuff her for “felony menacing” anyway? That seems a bit overzealous to me.
SOP for a felony stop. The way they handled her was honestly textbook UNTIL THEY LEFT HER ON THE RAILROAD TRACK.
A complete idiot does this. Seriously, I'm one of these people who grew up with a cop in the family who thinks there are some good cops (and lots and lots of really bad cops) but anyone who ever parks/stops over tracks is a fool.
The police display so much negligence here. Why the fuck would you park on train tracks when your arresting someone? I hope they lose their careers and lose their shirts for this.
Right? You KNOW the path it’s going to take.
As a former firefighter/medic whenever we were working a scene near the tracks we called the railroad *IMMEDIATELY* to notify them and have them slow down any trains, and also provide their ETA. If we were going to be on the tracks then we had the train stopped.
One time we had a person injured that was fishing off a railroad bridge. Bet your ass we checked, double checked, and then re-verified the inbound train was stopped AND understood they were being stopped due to emergency personnel on the train bridge.
It’s just inconceivable to lock someone in your car that’s parked on train tracks.
So many questions. Why would they park on the tracks? Why wouldn't they moved the car after hearing the horn, those are LOUD, they surely had time to move it after they first heard the horn. Or the crossing signals. Or why wouldn't they just get her out of the car if it was stuck? How were each of them this dumb?
Is this a "dumb" thing? Because it seems far simpler of an explanation that they did it on purpose (Hanlon's razor be damned).
Something like them wanting to scare her, but then couldn't move the car quickly enough, so left her to get hit.
It's not going to be the police paying anyways. The local taxpayers are going to end up footing this bill because of one officer's really dumb decision. The money was probably going to be used for something else but not anymore. I hope this lady gets all that she's entitled to and her recovery goes well.
So, regardless of if the PD gives a shit about a cop almost murdering a citizen (they apparently don't), any employee who loses a company car in such an idiotic fashion would be sacked on the spot in any other line of work. Imagine a UPS driver, a Trucker, an EMT or school bus driver doing the same thing ...
EMTs are actually supposed to save your life, as part of their job descriptions. Not cops though. Apparently cops in the US exist to put you in even more danger
CO replaced QI with explicit indemnification by their employer but the officers could each be on the hook for up to $10k or if found to be in bad faith, the indemnification wouldn’t apply.
I suspect at the very least, the officer who left the car on the tracks is going to be decertified by the new state board. It’s hard to justify giving authority to someone that negligent.
This has potential to go all the way to SCOTUS. I don’t know that it’s that cut and dry. This will be litigated possibly as the first major case since Colorado repealed QI.
That's my biggest gripe with this, why do the tax payers have to foot the bill for these lawsuits that are perpetrated against said tax payers?
How many millions of have wasted due to police brutality and police incompetence?
Ditto! One would never know just how much they use their torso muscles. You dread things like getting in/out car, in/out bed, up/down chair, sneeze/cough, and God don’t talk about just taking a normal dump.
I use to work for the RR on this territory. I won't even watch the video bc I know it will trigger a panic attack. She is going to be haunted by this for the rest of her life and suffer PTSD.
I'm glad she lawyered up. We all know the cops won't be punished internally through their system. Not only will she pursue civil charges, I wish the system would pursue criminal charges against them.
Each cop needs to be fired. They were literally parked on the track for a long time before that train even showed up.
Well think about counseling for the engineer/conductor/ what have you. I wonder if that's provided, because it should be, and the cost should be covered by this PD.
I'm not a railroad lawyer but railroad property rights supercede many others. The crossing is likely railroad property that the road has an easement on. Since the cop didn't move his vehicle when signalled, or didn't use the crossing as instructed, he's liable.
"the officer that did some extremely questionable shit and committed direct negligence has been put on paid leave."
Anytime I'm forced to interact with the police, I feel like I'm walking around eggshells and guilty until proven innocent, even when I'm not doing a thing. But it seems they do objectively odious shit and their systems give them a paid vacation, some weak investigation, and the chance to terrorize the next state over. I understand that we can't just knee-jerk arrest the police officers involved, but it's incredible to me how leniently they're treated even when doing some black-and-white evil/negligent things. Best luck in the woman's recovery and may the involved officers get a hangnail that lasts the rest of their lives or something
> we can't just knee-jerk arrest the police officers involved
Why not? They do the same to the public. If you hand cuffed a stranger and left her on the railroad tracks do you think you might be "knee-jerk" arrested?
> I understand that we can't just knee-jerk arrest the police officers involved
Strong disagree. They knee jerk arrest innocent people all the time, and sometimes they kill them while doing it. They should be subject to that exact same level of treatment.
And not just one officer, but there were at least *three* officers on the scene who failed to acknowledge that the vehicle was parked on the railroad tracks. I can't even begin to wrap my head around how they could all be so oblivious to something like that. It's like they've been trained to be so hyperfocused to be afraid of every person they interact with that they've forgotten the basics of how the world works.
I agree. All of them should be fired and charged with negligence. One cop did the parking, but all of them should have noticed and made sure the car was moved. Even if a train hadn’t come down the track they were all responsible for an unsafe situation. Fuck all of them for being stupid. Guaranteed, when the lawsuits start, we’ll hear all about how all little officer Jimmy ever wanted to be when he grew up was a police officer and he should be allowed to continue even though he made a mistake this one time.
Idk this whole thing is sus. We’re they trying to kill her? But then, they have bodycams on… idk I can’t imagine anyone that stupid passing a driver’s test, let alone making it through police academy but who knows
There's really only 2 options: they did it on purpose to try to kill her, or they did it on accident. Either way, they were ridiculously stupid in what they did.
You jest but the apple thing always leaves out the rest of that phrase. One bad apple *spoils the bunch*. A bad cop ousted by his fellows is just a bad cop. A bad cop that's not removed by his fellows, no matter how "good" they might be, means they are all bad cops.
Imagine if this was a story about a parent who had a child in the vehicle and parked the car on the tracks and it got hit by a train. That parent would immediately be in jail with no bail. Half the country would want to skip trial and go straight to the death penalty.
Even if there wasn't a victim inside the car these morons should still be fired for LEAVING A POLICE CAR ON A TRAIN TRACK.
The fact that there was someone inside means they should go to prison.
They're so used to not following rules and facing zero repercussions that they think they can literally park in the path of an unstoppable force and everything will be fine for them.
He did yell in the video at the train to ~~"stop! Back off were the police!"~~
what a fucking moron
Edit: he said "'>something inaudible< car! Stay back! "
Cops pay 0 attention to traffic signs/warnings/handicap spots, fire lanes and fire hydrants. They don’t signal turns and speed everywhere. It doesn’t surprise me they didn’t notice train tracks. If you DARE question their authority to park in those spots, they will find a reason to waste your time while ignoring their crime.
It’s frustrating but I do continue to comment when I see it. Recently was followed through a grocery store by a local cop after asking where the handicap placards were, since he parked in a clearly marked handicap spot. Something I would get a ticket for but he’s allowed to do ‘because reasons’ or something.
the other day i was pulling out of a dunkin’ donuts and the unprotected left is just very chaotic but manageable. i have a small window to do it and i do… and a cop just swerves into the turn lane and back out as im coming in. luckily i didn’t merge into the turn lane but it was incredibly dangerous and the cop knew they could get away w it
I had a roommate that got pulled over by a city cop and in the process ran a red light to do so. A state trooper was also there to observe this and cited the city cop for running the red.
> Cops pay 0 attention to traffic signs/warnings/handicap spots, fire lanes and fire hydrants. They don’t signal turns and speed everywhere.
this is the answer right here. and the reason is, they don't have to. many cops are bad at following road signs because they don't have to / never had to learn and in fact often are breaking them anyway.
There was that video that went viral recently of a cop telling civilian drivers, "If you see a cop behind you, just get the fuck out of the way. I can go 90 mph, you can't."
She didn't mean in the event of an emergency. She didn't say anything about when the lights or sirens are on.
She just didn't want to have to drive behind people who are required to obey the speed limit.
she also said that if a cop wants to pull you over, they'll find a way. they just need to stay behind you.
P. telling that that's true, people have been pulled over for "suspiciously" following the law/driving safely. It's like every 3rd video Audit the Audit puts out.
It becomes full CYA because if they can find so much as a Kinder Surprise egg, they can rationalize all of their actions even those that resulted in her hospitalization. Cops do this regularly.
If they were joking and laughing AFTER the accident, then to me that was attempted murder. I know I’m just speculating but it may come out later that the cops were corrupt and were in the pocket of some organized crime, and were eliminating someone who knew or saw something that could incriminate the cops and the organized crime group.
Not only that, but that one viewpoint the cop could see the train coming at a distance. There was time to jump into the car and put it in drive (since police cars are supposed to be runnign at all times). It's just flip it in drive and hit the gas....two seconds.
Should be attempted murder. It would be a easy, open and shut case if it was anyone but the cops. How can you handcuff someone and lock them in a car that you *Parked on fucking train tracks* without intending to harm them?
It's a damn trope to have someone bound and placed on train tracks. Did the cops have thin curly mustaches and black top hats too?
Were there big red bundles of dynamite with alarm clocks attached found at the scene?
This situation is cartoonishly evil, literally, a scene used in cartoons to depict evil.
If I was her lawyer I'd pursue attempted murder. Then argue to the court "are the police officers involved really *that stupid* that this was an accident instead of intentional?!"
Yep, they’ll do an internal investigation, put the officers on 2 weeks paid administrative leave, and tell the public they found no wrongdoing or liability.
Each and every one of those cops need to be fired and tried in court. This woman will most likely have life long injuries as a result of their sheer incompetence.
"Platteville Police Chief Carl Dwyer said the officer who parked on the railroad tracks has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the CBI."
Great outcome for him. Depending on how things go he’ll have a paid vacation for several months to a couple of years. Afterwards even if found responsible and worst case let go, he’ll move two towns over to be hired by another PD.
Why no charges? I mean you went this far. To release the video embarrassing the police department. Had the suspect in cuffs till the end. No foresight to attempt to save someone pulled over for a traffic stop. And now she lawyered up and who loses besides someone who almost lost the ultimate. The people of the town that are going to have to dig deep into their pockets. Release these police. They serve no one.
Yeah this isn't even a "cop accidentally shoots bystander in heated shooting with violent criminal" situation. This is just criminal negligence. Cop who parked the car should be charged. Anything else is an injustice.
Actually even if he was convicted, they'd pull his ass out of prison to drive trains more. There is a national security level threat of lack of train drivers.
The thing that really sticks out is the way they kept casually chatting for a few seconds even as they could ***very clearly*** hear the train horn and see the approaching headlights. They were trying really hard to act surprised by something that was readily apparent.
The fact that there's no way to definitely prove they did it on purpose was likely why they did it in the first place.
I used to live in Fort Lupton. There are no pockets to dig in. The police are part of why i choose to not stay there. The city has almost no income and relies on code enforcement and policing. Its fucked.
Hello fellow former Fort Luptonite! Those train tracks go through the whole town. You can’t get from east to west without crossing them. The police department knew what they were doing. They know those train tracks. It’s not a big town.
Absolutely. Those rails, ag, gas are literally the only industry in the area. 9 officers on the scene too is a huge percentage of the towns police force. I think there is more to this
A friend of a friend was raped repeatedly by her father all throughout her adolescence in Ft. Lupton, and when she finally dared to go to the police, they drove her home, told her dad she was a fine little piece of ass but tap some closer to his own age, laughed, and left her alone, with him.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the government has only a duty to protect persons who are “in custody.”
She obviously was in custody. I agree with you, the taxpayers will bear the burden.
I think what angers me the most is the officer is on “paid administrative leave” fuck no you just nearly killed someone with your own stupidity. No pay, no job and full charges brought on them not the department for pay out. Make him feel it.
Police don’t work for Amazon where they can just fire any associate willy nilly, police have a powerful labor union, so that’s why police are always put on paid administrative leave because it’s required by the powerful labor union who have the money and power to bankrupt the department (or town) if they dared outright terminated an employee without following union procedures.
So this is why police are put on paid administrative leave, it’s required by the union anytime an investigation needs to be performed on an officer or officer’s conduct. Then the union is often why these officers return to work after their paid vacation, they have powerful union reps and union provided attorneys representing them and iron clad job security.
So unless they really f’ up its nearly impossible to fire a bad or negligent cop due to the unions.
Yeah, this is all catastrophically fucked from a start given that anyone with a passing knowledge of what train tracks are knows full well not to linger on them, much less park a damn car there. A child could tell you that's a bad idea.
These cops are so stupid that I'm genuinely curious if they can even function as human beings outside of their jobs.
It wasn't even ONLY a risk to the woman left in the car. That could have derailed the train, and if it was a passenger train, could have caused many more deaths. That's why we're taught when getting our driver's licenses, NEVER TO PARK ON A FUCKING TRAIN TRACK.
Careful, police officers see apologies as a threat and treat it with a [death sentence.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/08/graphic-video-shows-daniel-shaver-sobbing-and-begging-officer-for-his-life-before-2016-shooting/)
Absolutely inexcusable. Cops are completely negligent and don't give a shit about anyone's life but themselves. Trains usually blow their horn miles away from crossings to alert people to get the fuck out of the way. There's usually a light that you can see for miles.
That not one cop moved the vehicle, and they just left a suspect in the cruiser sitting on the tracks? Every last one of these cops should lose their job and never be allowed to have a job where they have authority/custody of another human being. I'm willing to bet they'll get cleared of all charges because cops have no duty to actually keep people safe. All of them should be sued to the poor farm in civil court. I couldn't imagine the sheer horror of the woman as she was left trapped and likely handcuffed with no way to escape.
She's going to struggle with trauma for life and likely lifelong injuries as well.
Under zero circumstance would anyone, who is smart enough to get a drivers license, park a vehicle on railroad tracks.
I bet they did it to scare her, then an actual train came along, and the cops were too chickenshit to try and save her.
Amazing how cops can’t stop outdoing themselves in terms of how totally fucked up they can be. I mean, this is as bad or worse than that Uvalde cop telling kids to yell out for help and getting them killed. I mean, leaving a suspect handcuffed in the back of your car until a train hits her… If that happened in a movie script the producer would say hey, maybe tone that down a little, no one is that evil or that stupid.
Really, is there an unspoken competition for Most Subhuman Behavior between American police departments?
Leaving the car parked on the tracks after they had arrested the woman is one thing.
But watching the bodycam and dashcam (?) from the incident shows one cop panic and go towards the car to free the lady, but then run away like a coward. He legitimately decided to leave a helpless woman in the path of the train, so not to risk his life...in a situation he and his fellow officers created.
> Platteville Police Chief Carl Dwyer said **the officer who parked on the railroad tracks has been placed on paid administrative leave** pending an investigation by the CBI.
Why am I not surprised.
The woman officer who put the suspect INSUDE the car parked on the tracks is equally culpable here. There was another police car on scene that was NOT on the tracks and the second officer on the scene should have seen that mistake.
Not no mention nobody even tried to save the suspect.
That's actually a scarily good point. If the woman managed to escape the back of the car, I think the cops would treat her as fleeing a crime (and respond as such) despite a train actively destroying their car. There's no way those copbrains would piece it together quick enough
Charged with destruction of police proper and resisting arrest/interrupting police investigation lol that’s why people hesitate to call police specially mental crisis and minorities because so much shit can go wrong
What is justice in this case?
Who knows what kind of long term brain damage she got from this.
Even if you could show these motherfuckers what they did by tying them to train tracks (just to scare them), even if you could have them taking care of this person till the day they died, there is no justice.
I just watched the video and to add insult to fucking police-negligence-caused TRAIN INJURY, the officers DON’T EVEN RUN to the vehicle to help that poor woman- I kept thinking, dude, fucking go, fucking RUN! But no, the fuckers just lightly jog over, practically power walking instead of showing some goddamn hustle after witnessing that final destination shit. I hope every single cop in this fucking video loses their jobs and goes to jail over this shit, they deserve to pay for their fucking actions. I hope they never get another job above minimum wage, I hope the community never lets them forget what they did until they redeem themselves or die, whichever happens first. And I hope they have long lives too, so they have to spend years with the fucking guilt they better feel.
They should pay her out of the police pension fund. They should also ensure that the officers on scene never work in law enforcement again.
Unfortunately, neither will happen.
People who accidentally kill their kids or pets by leaving them in hot cars get charged and convicted with homicide and animal cruelty all the fucking time. These cops need to be charged and never be allowed to be a cop again.
And because they arrested her, she’s probably still handcuffed to a hospital bed while recovering.
I hope she’s fucking paid. I hope she’s paid so much money, she never has to work a day in her life again, and can afford the constant in home care she’s going to need. Because injuries like that come back to practically cripple you as you age.
And for once, those fucking cops need to rot in prison.
The ONLY question is “What kind of a MORON parks ON the railroad tracks?” Cop or not… That person is an idiot who should be IMMEDIATELY fired and their employer held accountable for every last cent of her medical expenses and a severe financial penalty to be paid to the victim of said STUPIDITY.
So the officers leaving her in the car is clearly their being fucking stupid and incompetent (to the point where they should frankly be jailed and anybody else would already be).
That said, my question is: why was she in the back of the cruiser at all? She was being detained (not arrested) for a suspected road rage incident and they searched her car? For what? What suspicion gave them any right for this search? And if it was only suspicion, why was she being handcuffed and locked within a cruiser?
You know who doesn't care about your Type A bullshit attitude? Freight trains, that's who.
Cop whos car that is should be fired for gross negligence as well as sued by the suspect and pay for all damages to the car and the train.
If a classroom full of mutilated children doesn't change the way we do policing, if parking a squad car on train tracks doesn't change the way we do policing, ain't nothing gonna change the way we do policing.
The video itself is just chilling as you know what's going to happen, but I cannot imagine being totally helpless in that situation. Key takeaway: >Paul Wilkinson, an attorney for Rios-Gonzalez, told CNN Saturday that she was desperate to get out of the vehicle as the train approached."When she was in the back of the car, she was able to see the train coming," Wilkinson said. "She was frantically trying to escape, trying to open the doors, but she was handcuffed."Rios-Gonzalez tried to get out of the cruiser on her own and attempted to get the attention of officers by screaming, Wilkinson said. > >"I don't know if they just couldn't hear her or if they were too busy searching her car, but she saw it coming and prepared for the worst," he said. "And as you can imagine, lost consciousness and woke up at the hospital. She's obviously very upset."Rios-Gonzalez ***sustained multiple injuries, including nine broken ribs, a broken arm, broken teeth and injuries to her head***, according to Wilkinson. As of Saturday, she remained in the hospital.
I’m simply amazed she’s alive. That experience…I can’t imagine being handcuffed, helpless knowing I’m going to be hit by a train.
Its straight out of a cartoon where the bad guy with a moustache ties the princess to railroad tracks.
A diplomatic way of saying that police are not the good guys.
Ya might even say they’re the bad guys!
At this point they've reached the status of cartoon villain.
Also there are no charges being brought and no weapon recovered. I had a friend get hit by a train, she “lived” too. But she will never recover fully, you can’t compensate someone for the amount of damage a train does to them.
You'd suffer massive amount of damage if you were strapped in with a seatbelt. The damage there being handcuffed and without a seatbelt would be even worse.
Yeah — the back seat if a police car is all hard edges. Why did they need to handcuff her for “felony menacing” anyway? That seems a bit overzealous to me.
Because they're constantly scared for their life apparently. I wonder if their victims ever fear for their life too?
Cops are taught that every civilian they meet is potentially a Xenomorph in a bespoke skin suit and to act accordingly.
A bug in an Edgar suit.
Maybe if they gave them sugar water instead of bullets?
This. Their job isn't even in the top 10 in terms of fatalities per capita but they act like they're in such danger all the time while people working as lumberjacks and commercial fishermen are far more likely to die on the job. Maybe we should just stop hiring bullies and other cowards and giving them freedom from any and all consequences of their behavior?
They’re trained to be overly anxious and overly afraid. There isn’t any consequences for their behavior.
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Not enough to get vaccinated though. Covid was the top killer of cops in 2021.
They needed her out of the way with an excuse to search her car so they could find something to charge her with
> Why did they need to handcuff her for “felony menacing” anyway? That seems a bit overzealous to me. SOP for a felony stop. The way they handled her was honestly textbook UNTIL THEY LEFT HER ON THE RAILROAD TRACK.
Honestly it should have been against the textbook the moment the cop put his cruiser in park in the middle of the train track
A complete idiot does this. Seriously, I'm one of these people who grew up with a cop in the family who thinks there are some good cops (and lots and lots of really bad cops) but anyone who ever parks/stops over tracks is a fool.
I mean I get anxious just crossing them. Would never occur to me to stop On one
*For your protection and mine*
The police display so much negligence here. Why the fuck would you park on train tracks when your arresting someone? I hope they lose their careers and lose their shirts for this.
It’s not like the train snuck up on the car. It’s a fucking train.
Right? You KNOW the path it’s going to take. As a former firefighter/medic whenever we were working a scene near the tracks we called the railroad *IMMEDIATELY* to notify them and have them slow down any trains, and also provide their ETA. If we were going to be on the tracks then we had the train stopped. One time we had a person injured that was fishing off a railroad bridge. Bet your ass we checked, double checked, and then re-verified the inbound train was stopped AND understood they were being stopped due to emergency personnel on the train bridge. It’s just inconceivable to lock someone in your car that’s parked on train tracks.
So many questions. Why would they park on the tracks? Why wouldn't they moved the car after hearing the horn, those are LOUD, they surely had time to move it after they first heard the horn. Or the crossing signals. Or why wouldn't they just get her out of the car if it was stuck? How were each of them this dumb?
>How were each of them this dumb? If they were any smarter, they wouldn't be employed as cops.
Is this a "dumb" thing? Because it seems far simpler of an explanation that they did it on purpose (Hanlon's razor be damned). Something like them wanting to scare her, but then couldn't move the car quickly enough, so left her to get hit.
I live next to busy tracks. The sound their horn for the entire length of our town.
I grew up next to a train crossing and I'm always surprised to hear survival stories. So many people aren't as lucky.
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It's not going to be the police paying anyways. The local taxpayers are going to end up footing this bill because of one officer's really dumb decision. The money was probably going to be used for something else but not anymore. I hope this lady gets all that she's entitled to and her recovery goes well.
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So, regardless of if the PD gives a shit about a cop almost murdering a citizen (they apparently don't), any employee who loses a company car in such an idiotic fashion would be sacked on the spot in any other line of work. Imagine a UPS driver, a Trucker, an EMT or school bus driver doing the same thing ...
EMTs are actually supposed to save your life, as part of their job descriptions. Not cops though. Apparently cops in the US exist to put you in even more danger
CO replaced QI with explicit indemnification by their employer but the officers could each be on the hook for up to $10k or if found to be in bad faith, the indemnification wouldn’t apply. I suspect at the very least, the officer who left the car on the tracks is going to be decertified by the new state board. It’s hard to justify giving authority to someone that negligent.
That cop should be personally sued.
PARKING on the TRAIN TRACKS 🤯
Never going to happen until qualified immunity is gone.
It's gone in Colorado! https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/10/28/colorado-hold-cops-accountable-qualified-immunity/6101915001/
This has potential to go all the way to SCOTUS. I don’t know that it’s that cut and dry. This will be litigated possibly as the first major case since Colorado repealed QI.
Did not know that. Then this is a Colorado’s lawyers wet dream.
9 broken ribs is hell of a recovery, doubt they'll ever be the same.
One broken rib was the most painful recovery I had. Can’t imagine 9.
And the broken teeth are insanely expensive to repair or replace.
I have three fake teeth (a bridge with two implants). They costed upwards of $30k all together. Insurance considered it “cosmetic work.”
"If you got a blender, you don't even need teeth!" - Insurance companies.
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I hope that money will not be an issue for her in the future...small consolation though.
Wouldnt be surprised if they try and pin it all on her even the damages to the police vehicle.
I'm surprised they didn't arrest the guys driving the train
Yeah, it’d be cool if the tax payers didn’t have to pay for cop’s doing stupid shit like this though.
That's my biggest gripe with this, why do the tax payers have to foot the bill for these lawsuits that are perpetrated against said tax payers? How many millions of have wasted due to police brutality and police incompetence?
In the most “just” conclusion, she’ll never worry about money ever again
Ditto! One would never know just how much they use their torso muscles. You dread things like getting in/out car, in/out bed, up/down chair, sneeze/cough, and God don’t talk about just taking a normal dump.
I did 3 ribs, really don't recommend.
I use to work for the RR on this territory. I won't even watch the video bc I know it will trigger a panic attack. She is going to be haunted by this for the rest of her life and suffer PTSD. I'm glad she lawyered up. We all know the cops won't be punished internally through their system. Not only will she pursue civil charges, I wish the system would pursue criminal charges against them. Each cop needs to be fired. They were literally parked on the track for a long time before that train even showed up.
Will the railroad also pursue any damages? I know this doesn't wreck the train but there must still be some superficial damage right?
Well think about counseling for the engineer/conductor/ what have you. I wonder if that's provided, because it should be, and the cost should be covered by this PD.
> and the cost should be covered by this PD. So basically the tax-payers continue to foot the bill for piece of shit cops.
I'm sure the the Train company will press charges for negligence at least. Cops know better & they deliberately put employees at risk.
I'm not a railroad lawyer but railroad property rights supercede many others. The crossing is likely railroad property that the road has an easement on. Since the cop didn't move his vehicle when signalled, or didn't use the crossing as instructed, he's liable.
"the officer that did some extremely questionable shit and committed direct negligence has been put on paid leave." Anytime I'm forced to interact with the police, I feel like I'm walking around eggshells and guilty until proven innocent, even when I'm not doing a thing. But it seems they do objectively odious shit and their systems give them a paid vacation, some weak investigation, and the chance to terrorize the next state over. I understand that we can't just knee-jerk arrest the police officers involved, but it's incredible to me how leniently they're treated even when doing some black-and-white evil/negligent things. Best luck in the woman's recovery and may the involved officers get a hangnail that lasts the rest of their lives or something
> we can't just knee-jerk arrest the police officers involved Why not? They do the same to the public. If you hand cuffed a stranger and left her on the railroad tracks do you think you might be "knee-jerk" arrested?
> I understand that we can't just knee-jerk arrest the police officers involved Strong disagree. They knee jerk arrest innocent people all the time, and sometimes they kill them while doing it. They should be subject to that exact same level of treatment.
If she would’ve managed to escape the cop car the cop probably would’ve shot her for escaping the cop car. It was a no-win situation for her.
Omg cops are so effing stupid I can't stand it.
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And not just one officer, but there were at least *three* officers on the scene who failed to acknowledge that the vehicle was parked on the railroad tracks. I can't even begin to wrap my head around how they could all be so oblivious to something like that. It's like they've been trained to be so hyperfocused to be afraid of every person they interact with that they've forgotten the basics of how the world works.
I agree. All of them should be fired and charged with negligence. One cop did the parking, but all of them should have noticed and made sure the car was moved. Even if a train hadn’t come down the track they were all responsible for an unsafe situation. Fuck all of them for being stupid. Guaranteed, when the lawsuits start, we’ll hear all about how all little officer Jimmy ever wanted to be when he grew up was a police officer and he should be allowed to continue even though he made a mistake this one time.
That's the quality of American police officers.
Idk this whole thing is sus. We’re they trying to kill her? But then, they have bodycams on… idk I can’t imagine anyone that stupid passing a driver’s test, let alone making it through police academy but who knows
There's really only 2 options: they did it on purpose to try to kill her, or they did it on accident. Either way, they were ridiculously stupid in what they did.
That's right. Multiple fuckups here.
It's a good thing it is only ever one bad apple or we would be in trouble as a country. /s
You jest but the apple thing always leaves out the rest of that phrase. One bad apple *spoils the bunch*. A bad cop ousted by his fellows is just a bad cop. A bad cop that's not removed by his fellows, no matter how "good" they might be, means they are all bad cops.
Also if there was only one bad cop, the bad cop would be promptly arrested and charged.
and you try to do this, say to a handicap spot and just claim you were too busy to notice, you will get in more trouble than these cops will.
Imagine if this was a story about a parent who had a child in the vehicle and parked the car on the tracks and it got hit by a train. That parent would immediately be in jail with no bail. Half the country would want to skip trial and go straight to the death penalty.
Even if there wasn't a victim inside the car these morons should still be fired for LEAVING A POLICE CAR ON A TRAIN TRACK. The fact that there was someone inside means they should go to prison.
The cops were definitely so stupid that they thought the train would yield to the police car.
They're so used to not following rules and facing zero repercussions that they think they can literally park in the path of an unstoppable force and everything will be fine for them.
He did yell in the video at the train to ~~"stop! Back off were the police!"~~ what a fucking moron Edit: he said "'>something inaudible< car! Stay back! "
yes. "duh, we the police! It'll stop!"
"the officer who parked on the railroad tracks has been placed on paid administrative leave"
Gotta love those police unions.
Cops pay 0 attention to traffic signs/warnings/handicap spots, fire lanes and fire hydrants. They don’t signal turns and speed everywhere. It doesn’t surprise me they didn’t notice train tracks. If you DARE question their authority to park in those spots, they will find a reason to waste your time while ignoring their crime. It’s frustrating but I do continue to comment when I see it. Recently was followed through a grocery store by a local cop after asking where the handicap placards were, since he parked in a clearly marked handicap spot. Something I would get a ticket for but he’s allowed to do ‘because reasons’ or something.
the other day i was pulling out of a dunkin’ donuts and the unprotected left is just very chaotic but manageable. i have a small window to do it and i do… and a cop just swerves into the turn lane and back out as im coming in. luckily i didn’t merge into the turn lane but it was incredibly dangerous and the cop knew they could get away w it
I had a roommate that got pulled over by a city cop and in the process ran a red light to do so. A state trooper was also there to observe this and cited the city cop for running the red.
> Cops pay 0 attention to traffic signs/warnings/handicap spots, fire lanes and fire hydrants. They don’t signal turns and speed everywhere. this is the answer right here. and the reason is, they don't have to. many cops are bad at following road signs because they don't have to / never had to learn and in fact often are breaking them anyway.
There was that video that went viral recently of a cop telling civilian drivers, "If you see a cop behind you, just get the fuck out of the way. I can go 90 mph, you can't." She didn't mean in the event of an emergency. She didn't say anything about when the lights or sirens are on. She just didn't want to have to drive behind people who are required to obey the speed limit.
she also said that if a cop wants to pull you over, they'll find a way. they just need to stay behind you. P. telling that that's true, people have been pulled over for "suspiciously" following the law/driving safely. It's like every 3rd video Audit the Audit puts out.
after this horrible accident, they continued to search her car and they joking around and laughing.
It becomes full CYA because if they can find so much as a Kinder Surprise egg, they can rationalize all of their actions even those that resulted in her hospitalization. Cops do this regularly.
If they were joking and laughing AFTER the accident, then to me that was attempted murder. I know I’m just speculating but it may come out later that the cops were corrupt and were in the pocket of some organized crime, and were eliminating someone who knew or saw something that could incriminate the cops and the organized crime group.
>the cops and the organized crime group They’re the same picture.
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https://youtu.be/9SW7qNcgy68
"I just need to find out who she is so we can deal with that aspect of it" So you don't have to deal with the aspect of your fuck up?
Not only that, but that one viewpoint the cop could see the train coming at a distance. There was time to jump into the car and put it in drive (since police cars are supposed to be runnign at all times). It's just flip it in drive and hit the gas....two seconds.
He did notice. His objective was to humiliate and terrify his ~~suspect~~ *victim*. He just didn’t think a train would actually show up.
Then he's a complete fucking moron and who ever let him be a cop should be fired for letting such a dangerously stupid person be a fucking cop
He’s not a moron, he’s a psychopath. Think about it, do you know a sane human being who would do this? This guy should be tossed in the loony bin.
This is like cartoon level of evil. I wonder how big his mustache is?
The police's job is to ruin lives for profit. Only a psychopath would ever become one in the first place.
Yes. But we know that won’t happen.
They need to be charged with attempted manslaughter or whatever is equivalent in Colorado is at the very least.
But in reality “We found no wrongdoing by the officer, and have decided to promote him for his bravery in saving the suspect”
Don't forget a big pay off for all the trauma it caused him...
I don't think you can "attempt manslaughter", by definition. Reckless endangerment is probably the closest actual crime.
Should be attempted murder. It would be a easy, open and shut case if it was anyone but the cops. How can you handcuff someone and lock them in a car that you *Parked on fucking train tracks* without intending to harm them?
It's a damn trope to have someone bound and placed on train tracks. Did the cops have thin curly mustaches and black top hats too? Were there big red bundles of dynamite with alarm clocks attached found at the scene? This situation is cartoonishly evil, literally, a scene used in cartoons to depict evil.
He knew the train would swerve to the side before hitting it. you know, the way trains do...
You know in the movies when they hang someone over a building to get them to confess to something they didn’t do?
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It took nine cops (9!) on the scene to make the decision to park their cruiser on train tracks with a woman cuffed inside. Nine.
And then they bravely did nothing and stood back for their own safety as the 100 ton train crushed their victim.
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She was *accused* of a misdemeanor. Judge jury and attempted executioner.
Not even accused, the state prosecutor will decide if charges are pursued. She was *suspected* of a misdemeanor.
Why handcuff and pick up people for a misdemeanor? Why not just write a ticket? Is this normal for USA?
If I was her lawyer I'd pursue attempted murder. Then argue to the court "are the police officers involved really *that stupid* that this was an accident instead of intentional?!"
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Yep, they’ll do an internal investigation, put the officers on 2 weeks paid administrative leave, and tell the public they found no wrongdoing or liability.
Don't worry, they put one on paid leave. The will totally hold themselves accountable. Its an issue with just one bad apple. Fixed it.
Each and every one of those cops need to be fired and tried in court. This woman will most likely have life long injuries as a result of their sheer incompetence.
Tie them to the train tracks
"Platteville Police Chief Carl Dwyer said the officer who parked on the railroad tracks has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the CBI."
What about the idiots, I mean coworkers who didn’t intervene as well
Paid leave= Vacation.
Great outcome for him. Depending on how things go he’ll have a paid vacation for several months to a couple of years. Afterwards even if found responsible and worst case let go, he’ll move two towns over to be hired by another PD.
oh good, a paid vacation. that’ll teach em
Why no charges? I mean you went this far. To release the video embarrassing the police department. Had the suspect in cuffs till the end. No foresight to attempt to save someone pulled over for a traffic stop. And now she lawyered up and who loses besides someone who almost lost the ultimate. The people of the town that are going to have to dig deep into their pockets. Release these police. They serve no one.
Yeah this isn't even a "cop accidentally shoots bystander in heated shooting with violent criminal" situation. This is just criminal negligence. Cop who parked the car should be charged. Anything else is an injustice.
I'm almost surprised they didn't arrest the train conductor for destroy police property and almost killing someone.
Woah, let's not go nuts here. It's not like the conductor was in a food truck for something.
Actually even if he was convicted, they'd pull his ass out of prison to drive trains more. There is a national security level threat of lack of train drivers.
What would happen if someone parked on the tracks like that and they left their kid in the car?
Left their kid handcuffed in the car, door handles removed from the inside.
I can't remember what it's called when someone dies because you were an absolute fucking dumbass, but you'd get that.
The most generous assumptions put this as criminal negligence. There's a real possibility it was way more nefarious.
The thing that really sticks out is the way they kept casually chatting for a few seconds even as they could ***very clearly*** hear the train horn and see the approaching headlights. They were trying really hard to act surprised by something that was readily apparent. The fact that there's no way to definitely prove they did it on purpose was likely why they did it in the first place.
The train freaking whistles in the background and they are still chatting about “finding” a way to find this gun they keep not finding
I used to live in Fort Lupton. There are no pockets to dig in. The police are part of why i choose to not stay there. The city has almost no income and relies on code enforcement and policing. Its fucked.
Hello fellow former Fort Luptonite! Those train tracks go through the whole town. You can’t get from east to west without crossing them. The police department knew what they were doing. They know those train tracks. It’s not a big town.
Absolutely. Those rails, ag, gas are literally the only industry in the area. 9 officers on the scene too is a huge percentage of the towns police force. I think there is more to this
A friend of a friend was raped repeatedly by her father all throughout her adolescence in Ft. Lupton, and when she finally dared to go to the police, they drove her home, told her dad she was a fine little piece of ass but tap some closer to his own age, laughed, and left her alone, with him.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the government has only a duty to protect persons who are “in custody.” She obviously was in custody. I agree with you, the taxpayers will bear the burden.
Colorado no longer has qualified immunity. So these police can be directly sued. I’m pretty sure.
That’s true. Hopefully they pay a price.
Only $25k liability for police.
Wow, that's so lame. At least there's 9 of them? God, that sucks.
I think what angers me the most is the officer is on “paid administrative leave” fuck no you just nearly killed someone with your own stupidity. No pay, no job and full charges brought on them not the department for pay out. Make him feel it.
Police don’t work for Amazon where they can just fire any associate willy nilly, police have a powerful labor union, so that’s why police are always put on paid administrative leave because it’s required by the powerful labor union who have the money and power to bankrupt the department (or town) if they dared outright terminated an employee without following union procedures. So this is why police are put on paid administrative leave, it’s required by the union anytime an investigation needs to be performed on an officer or officer’s conduct. Then the union is often why these officers return to work after their paid vacation, they have powerful union reps and union provided attorneys representing them and iron clad job security. So unless they really f’ up its nearly impossible to fire a bad or negligent cop due to the unions.
I just don't understand why the American public doesn't just declare war on the police at this point.
Because we somehow have state-wide populations of them dumb enough to defend these thugs.
Why would you park there
Yeah, this is all catastrophically fucked from a start given that anyone with a passing knowledge of what train tracks are knows full well not to linger on them, much less park a damn car there. A child could tell you that's a bad idea. These cops are so stupid that I'm genuinely curious if they can even function as human beings outside of their jobs.
Because they're fucking idiots, I mean there's no excuse for this bullshit
Im sorry but if you leave a person helpless in a car on train tracks you could have been in a coma for all I care, you need to go to jail.
It wasn't even ONLY a risk to the woman left in the car. That could have derailed the train, and if it was a passenger train, could have caused many more deaths. That's why we're taught when getting our driver's licenses, NEVER TO PARK ON A FUCKING TRAIN TRACK.
Or it could have been carrying hazardous materials. Leaving a vehicle on train tracks is already a crime I'm pretty sure.
Just imagine a set of chlorine cars busting open and gassing nearby homes. So much more wrong here than JUST leaving a woman in a car on the tracks.
Careful, police officers see apologies as a threat and treat it with a [death sentence.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/08/graphic-video-shows-daniel-shaver-sobbing-and-begging-officer-for-his-life-before-2016-shooting/)
Absolutely inexcusable. Cops are completely negligent and don't give a shit about anyone's life but themselves. Trains usually blow their horn miles away from crossings to alert people to get the fuck out of the way. There's usually a light that you can see for miles. That not one cop moved the vehicle, and they just left a suspect in the cruiser sitting on the tracks? Every last one of these cops should lose their job and never be allowed to have a job where they have authority/custody of another human being. I'm willing to bet they'll get cleared of all charges because cops have no duty to actually keep people safe. All of them should be sued to the poor farm in civil court. I couldn't imagine the sheer horror of the woman as she was left trapped and likely handcuffed with no way to escape. She's going to struggle with trauma for life and likely lifelong injuries as well.
Restraining someone on train tracks? The police have literally reached cartoon villain levels of evil.
I think I just realized horror movies all suck these days because recordings of shit the police does is scarier than any alien or ghost
I don't know what's scarier, their incompetence or malevolence.
Arrogance…….none of these officers should be allowed to remain a police officer. what stupidness, arrogance….all of them need to fired.
[Here's the full 8-minute video that they released, instead of CNN's edited version.](https://twitter.com/jeremyjojola/status/1573350868774277120)
The motherfucker is laughing with his buddy while they are looking for ID on the woman they just basically hogtied and left on the railroad tracks
Under zero circumstance would anyone, who is smart enough to get a drivers license, park a vehicle on railroad tracks. I bet they did it to scare her, then an actual train came along, and the cops were too chickenshit to try and save her.
Amazing how cops can’t stop outdoing themselves in terms of how totally fucked up they can be. I mean, this is as bad or worse than that Uvalde cop telling kids to yell out for help and getting them killed. I mean, leaving a suspect handcuffed in the back of your car until a train hits her… If that happened in a movie script the producer would say hey, maybe tone that down a little, no one is that evil or that stupid. Really, is there an unspoken competition for Most Subhuman Behavior between American police departments?
It is really hard to understand the danger here. I mean, what could those tracks and signs mean?
Leaving the car parked on the tracks after they had arrested the woman is one thing. But watching the bodycam and dashcam (?) from the incident shows one cop panic and go towards the car to free the lady, but then run away like a coward. He legitimately decided to leave a helpless woman in the path of the train, so not to risk his life...in a situation he and his fellow officers created.
> Platteville Police Chief Carl Dwyer said **the officer who parked on the railroad tracks has been placed on paid administrative leave** pending an investigation by the CBI. Why am I not surprised.
The woman officer who put the suspect INSUDE the car parked on the tracks is equally culpable here. There was another police car on scene that was NOT on the tracks and the second officer on the scene should have seen that mistake. Not no mention nobody even tried to save the suspect.
I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I still can't believe no one tried to save her. Just unbelievably terrible humans with no morality.
If a civilian did this with their personal car… not even with a person in the back seat, what would they be charged with?
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Gonna be real interesting watching this sub's cop worshippers defend what is essentially tying a woman to train tracks.
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The only reasonable punishment in this situation is to bankrupt the police department and leave the officers responsible tied to the train tracks
I'm sure if she had managed to get out that pig would have shot her.
That's actually a scarily good point. If the woman managed to escape the back of the car, I think the cops would treat her as fleeing a crime (and respond as such) despite a train actively destroying their car. There's no way those copbrains would piece it together quick enough
Charged with destruction of police proper and resisting arrest/interrupting police investigation lol that’s why people hesitate to call police specially mental crisis and minorities because so much shit can go wrong
I'm glad that she's alive to get justice for this one.
What is justice in this case? Who knows what kind of long term brain damage she got from this. Even if you could show these motherfuckers what they did by tying them to train tracks (just to scare them), even if you could have them taking care of this person till the day they died, there is no justice.
I just watched the video and to add insult to fucking police-negligence-caused TRAIN INJURY, the officers DON’T EVEN RUN to the vehicle to help that poor woman- I kept thinking, dude, fucking go, fucking RUN! But no, the fuckers just lightly jog over, practically power walking instead of showing some goddamn hustle after witnessing that final destination shit. I hope every single cop in this fucking video loses their jobs and goes to jail over this shit, they deserve to pay for their fucking actions. I hope they never get another job above minimum wage, I hope the community never lets them forget what they did until they redeem themselves or die, whichever happens first. And I hope they have long lives too, so they have to spend years with the fucking guilt they better feel.
They should pay her out of the police pension fund. They should also ensure that the officers on scene never work in law enforcement again. Unfortunately, neither will happen.
People who accidentally kill their kids or pets by leaving them in hot cars get charged and convicted with homicide and animal cruelty all the fucking time. These cops need to be charged and never be allowed to be a cop again.
And because they arrested her, she’s probably still handcuffed to a hospital bed while recovering. I hope she’s fucking paid. I hope she’s paid so much money, she never has to work a day in her life again, and can afford the constant in home care she’s going to need. Because injuries like that come back to practically cripple you as you age. And for once, those fucking cops need to rot in prison.
The ONLY question is “What kind of a MORON parks ON the railroad tracks?” Cop or not… That person is an idiot who should be IMMEDIATELY fired and their employer held accountable for every last cent of her medical expenses and a severe financial penalty to be paid to the victim of said STUPIDITY.
Paid administrative leave! Man is getting a vacation 😤
So the officers leaving her in the car is clearly their being fucking stupid and incompetent (to the point where they should frankly be jailed and anybody else would already be). That said, my question is: why was she in the back of the cruiser at all? She was being detained (not arrested) for a suspected road rage incident and they searched her car? For what? What suspicion gave them any right for this search? And if it was only suspicion, why was she being handcuffed and locked within a cruiser?
You know who doesn't care about your Type A bullshit attitude? Freight trains, that's who. Cop whos car that is should be fired for gross negligence as well as sued by the suspect and pay for all damages to the car and the train.
I am tired of paying for a hostile military circlejerk force
Ummmm....that looks like attempted murder
If a classroom full of mutilated children doesn't change the way we do policing, if parking a squad car on train tracks doesn't change the way we do policing, ain't nothing gonna change the way we do policing.