Former NFL player's mother injured in fatal Amtrak-CSX train collision

By Warren Stocker | February 4, 2018 at 7:38 PM EST - Updated August 14 at 7:21 AM

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A mother of a former Carolina Panther's player was one of the passengers injured an Amtrak train that collided with a CSX freight train early Sunday morning.

Former defensive tackle Andre Neblett was picking up his mother's luggage at Pine Ridge Middle School when the crash happened. His mother was in the third car of the train on her way back home to Denmark, SC. She described the scene as chaotic when the trains collided.

"She was visiting family New Jersey was coming back home to South Carolina, was supposed to be getting off in Denmark, SC," Neblett said. "We picked her up this morning around 4 a.m. right after it happened."

Neblett said he lives in Charlotte, NC, which is where he was when he got the call about the train collision and rushed to pick up his mother.

"I live in Charlotte and I had to rush down here as soon as I got the call and I didn't know what to expect. What happened? Did she have broken legs or what? That was the scary part. But once we got there and found that she was safe, I just thank God that she was safe."

Neblett told reporters Sunday morning how his mother described her experience to him.

"Just how shocked and how traumatized she is from the whole overall experience. I mean we see stuff like this on the news all the time, but here we have it, it's touched my family closely and we just thank God she's OK," Neblett said.

His mother was transported to the hospital with minor injuries and is said to be OK.

"These guys have been doing a great job - I know I've been seeing paramedics and staff all over the place just helping people and it's just great. It's awesome."