A Colorado police officer identified as Jordan Steinke was found guilty of two misdemeanors on Friday in connection with an incident that happened close to Denver last year. The policeman had put a handcuffed guy inside a patrol SUV before it was hit by a train.

Also read | Kanye West’s Twitter account reinstated after banned

Judge Timothy Kerns declared during the week-long bench trial that there was no reasonable supposition that putting a shackled person in the back of a patrol car stopped on railroad lines entailed a sizable and unreasonable danger of harm from the approaching train.

Who is Jordan Steinke?

Officer Jordan Steinke of the Fort Lupton Police Department was found guilty of third-degree assault and reckless endangerment. However, she was cleared of the felony allegation of criminal attempted manslaughter.

After the verdict was read, Steinke, who had opted to have the matter resolved without a jury, knelt down and sobbed.

Also read | Mid-air collision between two aircraft near Oshkosh, Wisconsin: Reports

Yareni Rios-Gonzalez was pulled over by police during a traffic stop in September. Rios-Gonzalez was suspected of displaying a gun at another car earlier that day during a road rage incident. Officer Pablo Vasquez of the Platteville Police Department had arrived first and stopped his cruiser in the center of a railroad crossing when Steinke loaded Rios-Gonzalez into it.

Rios-Gonzalez could be seen yelling for assistance as the train drew near and eventually collided with the car in video footage from body-worn and dashboard cameras that were made public by the police. She suffered significant injuries as a result of the incident, including nine broken ribs, a broken arm, and other wounds.

Also read | Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce fights teammate during training camp | Watch viral video

Even though there were multiple warning signs in the vicinity, including one close to where she had parked her own car, Steinke insisted throughout her testimony that she was unaware of the railroad tracks’ presence. She explained that she was unable to be fully aware of her surroundings because her main concern was on approaching a suspected armed suspect. You can only divide your focus so much, Steinke said, referencing the difficulties she had at the time.