United States: Handcuffed woman badly injured after train hits police car

A handcuffed woman was badly injured after police officers left her in a patrol car parked on rail tracks and it was hit by a freight train. Photo / Supplied

A handcuffed woman was badly injured after police officers left her in a patrol car parked on rail tracks and it was hit by a freight train.

Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 20, suffered multiple broken bones and a head injury, and her lawyer said he was stunned she had survived.

Dramatic video shows officers shouting "stay back" as the train with its horns blaring barrelled towards their SUV parked on the line near Fort Lupton, Colorado.

They had left her in the back seat of the vehicle as they searched her pick-up truck for weapons following a reported road rage incident involving a gun.

The Union Pacific train sounded its horn as it hurtled down the track, but it took officers at least 15 seconds to react. One yelled an expletive as the train piled into the police car.

Paul Wilkinson, the injured woman's lawyer, said that he was stunned she had survived the incident. "She saw it coming and could hear the horn," he told the Denver Post.

"She was trying to get the police officers' attention, screaming at them. She tried unlocking the door. She had her hands behind her back and was frantically trying to unlock the door."

"I don't think you ever park on a train track. Ever.

"That would have avoided the whole situation. You just never park on a train track. You have to park somewhere else."

One of the officers involved in the incident has been placed on administrative leave.

"Officers cleared the suspect vehicle to determine if anyone else was in the vehicle," Fort Lupton Police said in a statement.

"Within a matter of seconds, the police vehicle, which contained the female detainee, was struck by a northbound train.

"Fort Lupton officers immediately summoned medical assistance and began life-sustaining measures."