ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) – A North St. Louis County woman says she was forced to quit her job and incurred thousands of dollars in damages after a tree sitting on county property crushed her family’s two cars.

Kimberly Young lives in unincorporated north St. Louis County and remembers the day she heard commotion outside her living room window.

“We heard this big bang and then all the lights went out,” said Young.

Young went outside to find her family’s two cars pinned underneath a large tree that had fallen nearby. Utility lines connected to the house were also hit, causing the power on the block to go out.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

She called her landlord, Amy Michael, who owns the property, purchasing it from a tax sale in recent years. After sinking about $70,000 into the remodel, Michael said Young became her tenant in February of 2023.

“She’s been great,” said Michael. “If there’s anything I need to know about, she’s prompt and lets me know. She always pays on time and takes good care of things.”

Michael had the tree removed from on top of the cars within a few hours, Young said.

“I called my insurance, I said, ‘you call yours, I’ll call mine,’ surely somebody will be responsible and take care of it,” said Michael.

It took about three months for the insurance company to send a surveyor, Michael said. Ultimately, it was ruled the tree was located on a neighboring parcel of land owned by St. Louis County.

“That’s when my homeowners insurance claim was denied,” she said. “I understood that, it wasn’t on my property.”

Young took pictures of her car, featuring a smashed windshield and damage to the frame. Her car insurance, including her gap coverage, denied the claim.

“I was at work and I was walking around in tears,” she said.

With no money to have the cars towed or repaired, they remained sitting in the driveway, collecting rainwater, leaves and bugs. While attempting to share a car with her sister, Young said she was forced to quit her job working as nurse because she was unable to get to work regularly.

Worse, she said, her son, who is disabled and wheelchair bound, began missing critical doctors appointments due to the lack of transportation able to fit his wheelchair.

Weeks went by, Young said, only to find out her claim filed with St. Louis County was denied. The county told Young it is not liable under the state’s Sovereign Immunity Laws.

“Because we didn’t see or complain about the tree about to fall, that it was not their liability is how he explained it to me,” she said. “But that tree looked like the rest of the trees it looked fine, there was nothing that could show us it was about to fall.”

A county spokesperson confirmed without proper notification of a potential problem with the tree, it cannot be assumed liable for any damages. No one was hurt in the incident, Young said.

“I’m really embarrassed and ashamed of the county for doing this to her,” said Michael. “County could have done a lot, county is responsible, it is their tree, there’s a bunch of trees in here and I bet you there’s a bunch that need attention.”

Late last week, Young said she received a call from Johnny Londoff Autoplex in St. Peters, informing her an anonymous donor wanted to gift her a new car.

“It was all shiny, even the wheels were shiny,” she said. “It was like something was shining down on it for me. The biggest blessing.”

Now, she has room for two car seats and plenty of room for her son’s wheelchair. She recently got a new job and is looking forward to being able to go to work and take her son to his doctor’s appointments.

“It was something I was just going to give up on and try to figure it out, but I had a bug in my ear to keep pushing and that was Amy,” she said.

A Go-Fund-Me to help Young get back on her feet has been created.

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