(NewsNation) — Multiple officials and organizations are calling for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to resign after a driver who violated his bond conditions crashed and injured a teenage volleyball player from Tennessee.

On Thursday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey held a press conference announcing his office would start the legal process to remove Gardner shortly after noon. In the petition for Gardner’s removal, Bailey’s office said she had neglected her duties and failed ethically, legally and morally in her duties.

In her own press conference later in the afternoon, Gardner defended her handling of the case and pushed back against the accusations she had neglected her duties. She said the people voted for her and that if they no longer want her to serve, then the remedy is an election.

She expressed her sympathy for the teenage victim and her family. Gardner said her office had repeatedly requested the driver have his bond revoked but was denied by the court. If Bailey was unaware of those attempts, Gardner said it was “willful ignorance.”

Addressing the lack of a court record reflecting any bond revocation requests, Gardner said in her district it is standard practice to make those requests orally.

On Wednesday, Bailey said on Twitter that his office was giving the city’s top prosecutor until noon Thursday to resign — if not, he said, Gardner “will face immediate removal proceedings in the form of a writ of quo warranto brought by our office.”

“Instead of protecting victims, Circuit Attorney Gardner is creating them. My office will do everything in its power to restore order, and eliminate the chaos in St. Louis caused by Kim Gardner’s neglect of her office,” Bailey said.

Criticism of Gardner has grown after Janae Edmondson, 17, lost her legs in a crash this past weekend, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Edmondson had been visiting St. Louis for a volleyball tournament, according to the newspaper.

A GoFundMe page set up for Edmondson had raised more than $360,000 as of Thursday morning.

Police say Daniel Riley, 21, was speeding and failed to yield at an intersection when his vehicle hit another car that struck Edmondson.

At the time, Riley had been out on bond after a 2020 robbery charge that was dismissed and refiled last year.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that Riley’s bond violations include letting his GPS monitor die and breaking the terms of his house arrest. Court records show Riley had violated bond at least seven times since Feb. 1.

Court officials said they didn’t know Riley had violated his bond. Prosecutors, officials said, had never filed a motion to revoke it.

A judge on Tuesday ordered Riley held without bond.

Since the crash, others, like Bailey, have also had harsh words for Gardner.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden joined the attorney general in saying Gardner should resign, saying she is “incompetent and grossly unfit to hold her office.”

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher also urged Gardner to step down. And although she stopped short of saying Gardner should resign, Democratic St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones did say Gardner had “lost the trust of the people.”

NewsNation has reached out to Gardner’s office for comment via email and phone. The office’s voice mailbox was full at the time NewsNation called.

The Associated Press reported that Gardner’s office said in a statement that Riley was released on bond in August “against the state’s wishes.”

“Judges have the sole authority to determine the bond conditions of a defendant,” Gardner said. “Bond violations and decisions do not solely rest on the shoulders of prosecutors. In this matter, prosecutors asked on several occasions for higher bonds, and those requests were denied.”

While Gardner has faced criticism, others have praised her for her work in the case of Lamar Johnson, who was able to walk out of a St. Louis courthouse earlier this week as a free man for the first time in nearly three decades.

Johnson had been found guilty of murdering 25-year-old Marcus Boyd, but always maintained his innocence, saying he was with his girlfriend miles away when the killing happened. His girlfriend corroborated this.

The case for Johnson’s release was centered around a key witness who recanted his testimony, and a prison inmate who says it was he, and not Johnson, who joined another man in Boyd’s killing.

Gardener filed a motion in August seeking Johnson’s release.

Speaking on “CUOMO,” Gardner said she is extremely grateful Johnson is no longer in prison.

“As a prosecutor, I take an oath, and I believe the oath is to pursue justice,” Gardner said. “Unfortunately, we have some individuals who believe finality is following the rule of law, but I don’t believe in that, and I believe that Missouri finally, on Feb. 14, 2023, had the will to correct Lamar Johnson’s wrongful conviction.”

NewsNation digital producer Tyler Wornell and the Associated Press contributed to this report.