The Fort Lupton police officer who locked a handcuffed lady in a police car that was hit by a freight prepare was sentenced to probation Friday.
Jordan Steinke, 29, was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation throughout an hour-long listening to in Weld County District Courtroom. The previous officer was convicted in July of reckless endangerment and assault after the Sept. 16, 2022, crash on railroad tracks close to U.S. 85 and Weld County Street 38.
That evening, Steinke and then-Platteville police Sgt. Pablo Vazquez stopped driver Yareni Rios-Gonzalez after a reported road-rage incident, took her into custody and locked her in a police SUV parked on railroad tracks. The officers then failed to maneuver the SUV as a prepare barreled down the tracks, horn blaring, and crashed into the SUV.
Rios-Gonzalez survived however suffered severe accidents.
Each officers had been criminally charged; Steinke was the primary to go to trial. She opted for a bench trial earlier than Weld County District Courtroom Choose Timothy Kerns, who discovered her responsible on two expenses however acquitted her of a 3rd cost, tried criminally negligent murder.
On Friday, Kerns mentioned he had deliberate to condemn Steinke to jail however modified his thoughts after listening to the prosecution and protection arguments. Either side requested for probation, with the prosecution looking for 30 months of supervised probation and the protection looking for one 12 months of unsupervised probation.
Kerns mentioned he initially thought a jail sentence would ship a message to regulation enforcement that law enforcement officials will probably be held accountable for misconduct, however after listening to the arguments determined to “examine myself.”
“Somebody goes to listen to this and say, ‘One other officer will get off,’” Kerns mentioned. “That’s not the information of this case. And the court docket is framing a sentence that hopefully will guarantee we will have some significant instructional element. If there’s a violation, Ms. Steinke, I’ll harken again to my unique intestine response as to the best way to handle sentencing. I need to be clear about that.”
Steinke wept in the course of the sentencing and apologized to Rios-Gonzalez in an announcement she learn in court docket.
“What occurred that evening has haunted me for 364 days,” Steinke mentioned. “I bear in mind your cries and your screams. I bear in mind begging you to inform me your identify. Praying that you’d keep awake. I’ve by no means felt so helpless. We couldn’t get you out of the automotive.”
Steinke mentioned she hoped to provide instructional talks to new law enforcement officials in regards to the hazard of railroad tracks and the way necessary it’s for officers to pay attention to their environment. Kerns ordered she full 100 hours of neighborhood service and approved any “instructional element” to rely towards these hours.
Steinke was fired after the conviction. The third-degree assault conviction may also set off revocation proceedings of her Peace Officer Requirements and Coaching certification, her lawyer, Mallory Revel, mentioned throughout Friday’s sentencing listening to.
“Decertification, which we anticipate, means she’s going to by no means be a police officer ever once more,” Revel mentioned.
Chris Ponce, an lawyer for Rios-Gonzalez, gave an announcement on his shopper’s behalf in the course of the sentencing listening to. He mentioned Rios-Gonzalez, who suffered an enduring mind harm and bodily accidents within the crash, misplaced all belief within the justice system that evening and felt conflicted about what sentence Steinke ought to serve.
“The battle that she feels is one the place day-after-day she has to really feel this ache,” Ponce mentioned. “And he or she’s needed to cope with (physician) appointments and having her life so radically modified. And feeling upset, very upset about that — offended about that — however alternatively, feeling for Ms. Steinke, and, I believe, really empathetically feeling sorry for the way she has misplaced her profession.”
Ponce added that Rios-Gonzalez, who watched the listening to just about, did need Steinke to put in writing a letter of apology. Kerns declined to order Steinke to take action.
“That should come from you, out of your coronary heart, not as a result of a decide advised you to,” Kerns advised Steinke.
A number of individuals spoke in assist of Steinke in the course of the sentencing listening to. They famous that she suffered nightmares and panic assaults because the crash and has felt responsible and remorseful in regards to the incident.
Steinke advised the decide she needed to “make some good out of this.”
“I’m so sorry,” she mentioned in court docket, addressing Rios-Gonzalez. “As a police officer, I by no means meant for one more human to come back to hurt underneath my watch. I really feel very a lot accountable for what occurred to you that evening, and I settle for the court docket’s determination to carry me accountable.”
Vazquez’s case remains to be pending and is ready for a pre-trial convention in December.
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