Metro-east woman critically injured by MetroLink, mother wants investigation
The mother of a Collinsville woman who was critically injured when she was struck by a MetroLink train Tuesday said she is helping care for her daughter at a St. Louis hospital and wants police to find out what happened at the Emerson Park station in East St. Louis.
Crystal Young, 38, suffered multiple, severe injuries, including the amputation of her left leg below the knee after being hit by the train, her mother, Kim Young of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, said Wednesday.
Crystal Young was in critical but stable condition at Barnes-Jewish Hospital on Wednesday, according to her mother.
A spokesman for MetroLink said a train hit a person at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and that first responders assisted the victim.
Lt. Troy Lindauer, who oversees the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department team that provides security at MetroLink stations in Illinois, said the victim was in a crosswalk when she was struck by a train. Other details of the investigation were not released.
Kim Young said her daughter’s left leg was severed by the train above the left ankle and then, at the hospital, her leg was amputated just below the knee.
Her other injuries include a spinal cord injury, head trauma, a broken eye socket and broken ribs.
Kim Young said she plans to contact police regarding the collision as a “precaution” because about two weeks ago a man and woman sent Crystal Young “threatening” text messages telling her they were “going to get her.”
She wants investigators “try to get to the bottom of what happened” to see if the previous threats had anything to do with the collision on Tuesday.
Kim Young said her daughter often rides MetroLink and was going to get on a train for a job interview in St. Louis when she was struck by the train Tuesday.
Kim Young has had brief conversations with her daughter about what happened.
“She just says, ‘Mom, I’m usually so careful,’” Kim Young said. “She just insists that she’s usually very careful there.”
Belleville News-Democrat reporter Madison Lammert contributed information for this article.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 2:38 PM.
