Sports

Update: Dust Devil game canceled Friday after player critically hurt in Richland crash

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Key Takeaways

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  • Tri-City Dust Devils canceled Friday's game after a player was in a car crash.
  • The 22-year-old was critically hurt iin a Richland, Wash., collision.
  • Richland police have not said if that crash is the same as a DUI-suspected collision earlier in the day.

Update: The Tri-City Dust Devils went ahead with plans to play Saturday night’s game in Pasco, according to a Facebook post. Sunday’s game also against Hillsboro is the final game of the regular season. Foster’s condition was not immediately available Saturday.

The Tri-City Dust Devils game was canceled Friday night after one of its players was critically injured in a Richland car crash.

Rio Foster, 22, was a passenger involved in a car accident early Friday, according to the Los Angeles Angels organization.

He was the Northwest League player of the month in August and named a spring breakout for the Angels organization. The outfielder started this season with the Dust Devils in April.

Rio Foster
Rio Foster MLB.com

Just the night before, the Dust Devils were playing the Hillsboro, Ore., Hops at Gesa Stadium in Pasco, and Foster was credited with leading the team to victory with his hitting.

Team members voted Friday to cancel the night’s game against Hillsboro because of the crash. It was part of a six-game run that is scheduled to end Sunday.

“We’re praying the best – that’s all we can do,” the Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery told The Associated Press.

“Unfortunately, I’m working on limited (information) ... What I do know is it’s obviously way more important than anything we’re doing here today.”

“I’m just thinking about him and his family. He’s a great kid,” he said. “We had him in spring training. He was a little bit of a later round draft pick, and he’s done some good things. We saw him in spring training, and he was named (Northwest League) player of the month recently, so his career is in a good spot.”

Yahoo Sports said Foster is from Athens, Georgia, and attended Florence-Darlington Technical College in South Carolina.

Clarke Central's Rio Foster poses for a photo with his super fan mom Iris Cleveland before a high school baseball game. (Photo/Joshua L. Jones, Athens Banner-Herald) News Joshua L Jones
Rio Foster poses for a photo with his super fan mom Iris Cleveland before a high school baseball game in 2021. Joshua L. Jones USA TODAY NETWORK

Richland police officials would not confirm to the Herald that Foster was one of the passengers thrown from a car at 2 a.m. Friday at the roundabout at Thayer Drive and Van Giesen Street. They said they do not release the names of crime victims.

The only serious collision reported by Richland police on Facebook on Friday was the DUI-suspected crash at 2 a.m. that sent four to the hospital. Two were reported in critical condition.

The car was speeding west on Van Giesen Street when the 22-year-old driver from Hermiston, Ore., lost control taking the roundabout at Thayer Drive, Richland police said in a Facebook post.

Richland patrol officers were dispatched early Friday morning to the 1500 block of Van Giesen for what was initially reported as a vehicle versus pedestrian injury accident. When officers arrived, they discovered a single vehicle roll over where two of the four passengers were ejected.
Richland patrol officers were dispatched early Friday morning to the 1500 block of Van Giesen for what was initially reported as a vehicle versus pedestrian injury accident. When officers arrived, they discovered a single vehicle roll over where two of the four passengers were ejected. Courtesy Richland Police

The car hit a fence and a power pole, flipping it and throwing two of the passengers out, police said.

Ashante Q. Sanders-Jackson, 22, was booked into the Benton County jail Friday afternoon on suspicion of three counts of vehicular assault, according to jail records.

An updated Richland police social media post confirmed she was the driver in the roundabout crash.

This story was originally published September 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM.

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