Amtrak Train Strikes Car, Killing Woman

CHICAGO (STMW) - Patrice Robinson died Thursday night when the car she was riding in allegedly went around railroad crossing gates and was struck by a New York City-bound Amtrak train.

The 20-year old's father, Terry Robertson, was driving her to work at a fast-food restaurant in Calumet Park when authorities say the vehicle went around the gates at 97th Street and South Eggleston Avenue at 6:55 p.m.

Robertson, an auto mechanic, was in stable condition with broken ribs at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, family members said. No charges had been filed in the crash on Friday, police said.

Robinson was a single mother of a 1-year-old son, and she recently had enrolled in a nursing program at Olive Harvey College in Chicago, her grandmother Patrice Emery said.

"Patrice was a very sweet girl, full of life," Emery said. "She graduated high school and was enrolled in a nursing program and had started working at Wendy's to make extra money for Christmas. She was trying to get her life on track. She was a beautiful, bubbly girl."

Amtrak Train No. 50 bound for New York had 245 passengers and departed Union Station at 5:58 p.m, Amtrak spokeswoman Christina Leeds said. The train remained on the scene for two hours after the crash.

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