ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Tuesday marked the beginning of the trial of Daniel Riley, the man who hit Tennessee high school volleyball player Janae Edmondson last year.
Get caught up on Tuesday's testimony:
Our reporter during a break in court:
Last year, Janae Edmondson, then 17-year-old volleyball player from Tennessee at the time, was struck by a car while walking with her family downtown following participating in a high school volleyball tournament. A car driven by Riley hit another car and a parked vehicle, with Janae legs was pinned between two of the cars.
The high-profile crash led to Edmondson to lose both her legs and have them amputated.
Then-St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was widely criticized due to the driver of that vehicle, Riley was supposed to be house arrest at the time for a 2020 robbery and had violated his GPS monitoring more than dozens of times. The outrage would be the first of a series of criticisms aimed at Gardner that would lead to her resignation in May 2023.
Riley is facing five charges, including assault, armed criminal action, and driving without a valid driver’s license. Riley has pleaded not guilty.
Tuesday marked the beginning of the trial after two days of jury selection. A questionaire was used to determine how much they knew about the case, and by Monday, there were 60 candidates left. 12 jurors, seven women and five men were selected by Monday afternoon. The four alternates chosen were all women.
Opening statements were made Tuesday during the first day of an expected three-day trial. Those in the court room were able to hear from Janae's father James and driver Elizabeth Smith, whose car Riley hit.
James, who previously had military experience with an experience in explosives, did not mince words to the jury Tuesday, saying the collision that pinned his daughter's legs sounded like a grenade going off.
"I looked and I saw that left leg, she was on her stomach and her left leg was completely severed and it was up on the car," said James, "At this point I knew she was trouble."
James says he went "full military mode" applied a tourniquet using two bystanders belt to his daughters leg. Doctors later told him that his actions saved his daughter’s life.
"I just went full military mode knowing that I didn't have minutes," said James Edmondson.
Edmondson also discussed of how costly the incident cost his daughter, with James telling the courtroom Janae was supposed to have a tryout with the U.S. Olympic volleyball team in May last year before the incident.
Riley's lawyers said in their opening statement they planned to show Riley was T-Boned and not the one who caused the wreck because they claimed his car was hit and he should not be held at fault for the accident.
Smith, the driver of the other vehicle, however, that while she didn't quite remember many of the details that happened that night, she testified that Riley hit her and she didn't hit Riley. She also testified that Riley didn't come check on her or her cousin who was also in the car with Smith.
"No, I didn't hit the vehicle, I was hit by the vehicle," said Smith.
This story will be updated as soon as more information is available.