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Police investigating whether bond violations for driver who struck teen are connected to other crimes

Daniel Riley violated his GPS monitoring system dozens of times, including the day police connected him to a car involved in other crimes.
Credit: SLMPD
The driver of the Audi, 21-year-old Daniel Riley was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, driving without a valid license and multiple other crimes.

ST. LOUIS — Police are now investigating if several of the dozens of times Daniel Riley violated his bond for an armed robbery included trips to gas stations in recent weeks where cameras captured him driving a car connected to a shooting and potential car break-ins.

Riley was first put on house arrest with a GPS monitor on his ankle for the past two years since he was accused of robbing a man at gunpoint in August 2020.

The I-Team reported Monday that Riley had violated his GPS monitoring conditions at least 90 times since he was first charged with armed criminal action and robbery in September 2020. Many of the violations are related to dead batteries on his ankle bracelet.

On Feb. 13, he was cited for violating his bond because the device’s battery had died. Also that day, police identified him from surveillance cameras at the QuikTrip on Hampton Avenue as the driver of a black BMW that was involved in a shooting there Feb. 2.

Police believe that black BMW frequented the Hampton Avenue location along with the QuikTrip along Vandeventer Avenue, where its driver was seen looking into vehicles “possibly attempting to steal them,” according to documents obtained by the I-Team.

Police Chief Robert Tracy told multiple officers during a meeting Wednesday detectives believe Riley is connected to several crimes in recent weeks, according to multiple police sources who attended the meeting.

His most recent violation happened Saturday when police say he was speeding and plowed into a car, sending it into 17-year-old Janae Edmondson. She was in town from Tennessee for a volleyball tournament and lost both of her legs as a result of the crash.

Edmondson's parents told a judge Tuesday she remains on a ventilator, has a crushed pelvis, kidney damage and other injuries.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s Office did not file motions to revoke Riley’s bond during the two years leading up to Saturday’s crash despite the dozens of violations of his bond, according to a spokesperson for the 22nd Judicial Circuit.

Gardner’s office fired back in a statement late Tuesday accusing critics of “twisting the facts” and condemning her for their own “selfish” reasons.

On Wednesday, her spokeswoman Allison Hawk issued another statement claiming her office asked to revoke Riley’s bond at least three times, but Judge Bryan Hettenbach refused to do so.

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