Janae Edmondson, a 16-year-old Tennessee girl visiting St. Louis for a volleyball tournament, lost both of her legs after she was hit by a reckless, speeding driver who crashed while she was walking back to her hotel.
The suspect, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, is accused of running a yield sign and striking a second vehicle that had the right-of-way, sending the second car into Edmondson, who was crushed between it and a parked car.
Police say Riley was driving 20 miles over the speed limit on the downtown streets. This was at about 8:40 p.m. Saturday at 11th and St. Charles.
Riley now faces charges of assault, armed criminal action, and operating a vehicle without a valid license. But he was already out on bond related to pending robbery and armed criminal action charges -- and had repeatedly violated the conditions of his release on GPS home monitoring.
Riley was slated to go to trial for those armed robbery charges last July. KSDK reports while all others involved were in court, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office wasn't prepared. The Assistant Circuit Attorney on the case, Natalia Ogurkiewicz, instead dismissed the charges and then re-filed for them.
Allison Hawk, spokesman for the Circuit Attorneys office said the court was aware of Riley’s violations and the decision to keep him out on bond was the judge’s decision. Hawk also said the victim in Riley’s armed robbery case died, but the judge planned to move ahead with the trial in July 2022. The state then nolled the case and refiled the charges to pursue the case without the victim.
In the words of Judge Bryan Hettenbach, reported by KSDK: “Witnesses and victim timely appear. Defense ready. State announces ‘not ready.’”
Riley violated the terms of his GPS monitoring both before and after he was indicted by a grand jury last month for that armed robbery. In April 2022, after more than 25 violations, KSDK reports Judge Hettenbach decided to keep the monitoring status quo. Riley violated the terms a dozen more times before his first trial date -- the one that was dismissed.
Since he was indicted just weeks ago on the re-filed robbery charges, Riley continued to violate the terms of his GPS monitoring -- right up to Saturday night downtown, when he is alleged to have struck Janae Edmondson.
A GoFundMe called "Pray for Janae" has been set up by her volleyball club and is now collecting donations for help with medical bills and other needs for the Edmondson family after her "unthinkable accident."
"The whole club loves Janae and values her athletic gifts, toughness, determination, and perseverance. These are things she will need in great measure during the long recovery that lies ahead," the description says.