Teen Multi-Sport Athlete Has BOTH Her Legs Amputated After Being Hit by Man Violating Probation!

A teen visiting St. Louis with her parents is now fighting for her life after she was hit by a speeding car over the weekend. On Saturday evening, 17-year-old Janae Edmondson was crossing the street with her parents when a car, driven by 21-year-old Daniel Riley, failed to yield to traffic, slammed into a car, pinning her between that car and another. Edmondson was visiting St. Louis for a volleyball tournament at the America’s Center, was rushed to a nearby hospital for life saving surgery. Unfortunately the varsity volleyball player, and multi-sport athlete, had to have both of her legs amputated.

This story, which is already a parent's worst nightmare, doesn't stop there. This entire ordeal could have been avoided if Riley, who was a habitual probation violator, had been behind bars.

According to STL Today, Riley was out on bond for a 2020 robbery charge that was dismissed and re-filed last year. A spokesperson for Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner defended the office on Tuesday, saying the case was dropped and re-filed because the victim died before trial, throwing a wrench into prosecution. The spokesperson also said the final ruling on whether a suspect’s bond is revoked is in the hands of a judge.

But a judge’s order from the day the case was dropped shows the victim was alive and present for the hearing, and prosecutors weren’t ready to proceed. And court officials said they never knew Riley violated his bond, because prosecutors never filed a motion to revoke it.

“Every time a violation was filed, the assigned prosecutor and defense attorney of record received a notification via email according to normal procedure,” said courts spokesperson Joel Currier. “However, the prosecutor, to date, has never filed a motion.”

In a statement late Tuesday night, the circuit attorney's office said the controversy was an attempt by "those who choose to twist the facts to take advantage of this situation for their own selfish motives."

"This is not the time for finger pointing, it's time to support this family, to ensure that justice is served," the statement said.

Gardner's office has been plagued with persecution mostly criticized for claims that the office is under-staffed and being unorganized and dysfunctional. Religious leaders from around the community are calling for Gardner, and her office, to be held accountable and fired for their negligence. “We have to start by mobilizing voters in this city to remove (Gardner) from office in the next election. We have to make sure people pay attention to the ineptitude of that office,” said St. Louis Alderman Tom Oldenburg. “You have an innocent 16 [17]-year-old lose her legs because that office can’t file a motion? Despicable.”

The crash itself was caught on surveillance video from a nearby business. We will warn you, although hard to see, the video footage is disturbing nonetheless.

“It just breaks my heart to think about that young woman and what she’s going to endure because this individual was still running loose,” said Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, the sponsor of the special prosecutor bill.

A judge ordered Riley held without bond in Saturday’s crash over the objections of his attorney, who filed a request for a reduction arguing he had no serious criminal history other than the robbery charge. The attorney also argued there was no accident reconstruction report to prove Riley was traveling “at a high rate of speed.”

“No bond in this case is a violation of defendant’s Constitutional rights,” Riley’s attorney, Daniel Diemer, wrote.

Riley had been on bond for his 2020 robbery case and had racked up a number of offenses.His bond violations included letting his GPS monitor die and leaving the confines of the perimeter of his house arrest, according to court records. Court records show he violated bond at least seven times since Feb. 1.

Allison Hawk, spokesperson for the Circuit Attorney’s Office, said they “made the courts aware” Riley had violated his bond. They did not file anything official, according to court documents.

Edmondson's parents spoke in court at Riley's initial hearing and they plead with the court to hold him accountable. They spoke about the horror of watching their daughter suffer such an injury and how her father used his military training to rush to her aid, stemming the bleeding with tourniquets made of belts until paramedics arrived.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Edmondson and her family as they struggle through this ordeal and face the changes life has dealt them.

A GoFundMe campaign for Edmondson has been organized and is overflowing with donations.