ST. LOUIS — A ºüÀêÊÓƵ judge ruled in an emotional hearing Monday that the man accused of causing a crash that left a 17-year-old volleyball player critically injured will remain in custody while awaiting trial.
Daniel Riley, 21, of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, became the center of intense scrutiny facing the courts and ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s office over the past week. He is accused of speeding in downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ the evening of Feb. 18 and causing a crash that injured out-of-town teenage pedestrian Janae Edmondson. Both of Janae’s legs were amputated after the crash, and she remains hospitalized.
Riley was out on bond under GPS monitoring for a 2020 robbery case at the time of the crash but remained free despite dozens of GPS monitoring violations.
Janae’s parents spoke passionately at a detention hearing Monday, asking Associate Circuit Court judge Rochelle Woodiest to deny Riley bond.
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Riley sat in court in an orange jail jumpsuit looking straight ahead with a blank expression.
Janae’s father told the judge his daughter was about to sign to a volleyball scholarship at the University of Tennessee Southern and pushed to come with her team to the volleyball tournament at the America’s Center downtown before the crash.
The father said Janae played excellent in two matches in the tournament over two days. After the second game the evening of Feb. 18, he said the family was walking in downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ when they spotted Riley’s speeding car. He said the crash pulled his daughter from his arms.
“I can still hear the roaring of the engine,†he said.
The father said he used his experience in the military to apply a tourniquet to the teen’s legs.
Today, she remains hospitalized in ºüÀêÊÓƵ awaiting two more surgeries and is learning to “do life again,†her parents said in court.
“A parent should never see their child in that situation,†Janae’s mother told the judge.
The mother expressed her daughter’s sentiments about Riley.
“She said: ‘I hope he doesn’t hurt anyone else like he did me,’†the mother said.
Riley is charged with second-degree assault, two counts of fourth-degree assault, armed criminal action and operating a vehicle without a valid license in connection to the crash.
Riley was out on bond with charges pending for first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. Those charges stem from an August 2020 robbery of a gun from the 17-year-old son for a former ºüÀêÊÓƵ police officer. Those charges remain pending.
The robbery charge was set to go to trial in July 2022, but prosecutors said in court last year they weren’t ready for trial. Charges were dropped and refiled.
Riley was released from jail in August 2022 and confined to house arrest. In the refiled case, he violated the conditions of his GPS monitoring device, which dictated where he could go, 51 times. The prosecutor’s office never filed a written motion to revoke his bond, but Gardner’s office said last week prosecutors did verbally mention the violations in discussions with judges on the cases.
Riley had no prior criminal history in adult court before the robbery case. Police said they had no record indicating the 2023 Audi Q5 Riley was driving the night of the crash was stolen.
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