St. Louis City SC Player’s Ex Badly Injured in Hit and Run in the Grove

Ellie Bentley has undergone multiple surgeries after last month’s crash, friends say

Mar 12, 2024 at 12:07 pm

Ellie Bentley, 22, was severely injured in a hit and run in the Grove neighborhood. Gofundme

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A 22-year-old was severely injured in a hit and run in St. Louis late last month. Now friends are raising money for her as she recovers from five reconstructive surgeries.

Ellie Bentley, who is the former partner of City SC player Indiana Vassilev, was struck by a car on February 25 at Manchester and Taylor streets in the Grove neighborhood. National news outlets the U.S. Sun and the New York Post report that Bentley was “caught up in a gun battle,” and dragged underneath the car for two blocks.

“She ducked down behind another vehicle until the shooting stopped, but then the person whose car she was hiding behind floored it, hit her, ran her over, and dragged her for a couple of blocks,” Bentley’s attorney Ben Tobin told the U.S. Sun.

However, a spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department says the story has proven to be more complicated. Their investigation determined that Bentley was hit by a car driven by 25-year-old Dionte Taylor, who fled the scene and now faces charges for the hit and run.

Police say a separate incident took place nearby in which 35-year-old Andre Wilson was sitting in his car in the 4500 block of Swan when a group of individuals mistakenly tried to enter the vehicle, believing it was their own, and Wilson fired shots out of his vehicle. Wilson now faces two counts of first-degree assault, three counts of armed criminal action and charges related to possession and use of a firearm.

Police initially believed the two incidents were related due to their proximity, but no longer consider that to be the case.

Bentley moved to the U.S. last year from Bingham, England, to be with her then-partner Vassilev as he joined St. Louis’ soccer team. She is currently in the U.S. on a work visa and graduated from York University with a joint honors degree in Mathematics and Physics, according to her GoFundMe page.

Bentley has undergone five major reconstructive surgeries and will have additional operations in the near future, Kendall Kau, the fundraiser’s organizer said.

Bentley’s parents flew to the U.S. to see their daughter within 48 hours of the accident and the financial strain on her, her family, and due to the nature of her recovery is significant, the GoFundMe reports. So far the fundraiser has raised $19,917 towards a goal of $75,000.

“Even though she only moved to the US within the last year, Ellie has touched the lives of many in St. Louis with her kind heart, generosity, charisma, and fantastic sense of humor,” Kau wrote.