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Colorado Woman Seriously Injured at Dangerous Crossing with History of Fatal Collisions

By Pottroff & Karlin LLC |

(September 20, 2022—Platteville, Colorado)

The victim, Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 20, comes out of a railroad collision with numerous broken bones. State investigators search to find answers as to how the collision happened and the previous history of incidents on the train crossing.

Riso-Gonzalez was pulled over near Highway 85 and County Road 38 where the police officer parked his car on the tracks where she was placed in the backseat. Shortly after, the car was struck by the train.  As she saw the train, Riso-Gonzalez “was frantically trying to get out [but] of course the doors were locked.” Her injury lawyer told 9NEWS that “She’s upset about what happened. She doesn’t understand why she was left in the car. She was yelling to get their attention and could see the train coming.” She works as a TSA agent and suffered nine broken ribs, a fractured sternum, a broken arm, and numerous other injuries to her head, back, and legs.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Colorado State Patrol are investigating the incident while Fort Lupton Police are investigating the alleged road rage case before the collision. An office administrator for the district attorney said “our intake attorney will be looking at it to determine if charges will be filed.”

While investigating, 9NEWS found a history of the federal railroad records showing four prior train collisions at the crossing, with four fatalities since 1994. The most recent collision in 2019 resulted in two men being killed after a train collided with a semi. The crossing has no lights, signals, or gates to initiate when a train approaches. Railroad safety consultant, Keith Millhouse said the collision was entirely preventable. Despite the history of fatalities and injuries, the Platteville Chief of Police would not respond or comment.

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