Former Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid was charged with driving while intoxicated, two months after a vehicular crash left a 5-year-old girl with a traumatic brain injury, Jackson County prosecutors announced.
On Monday, prosecutors charged Reid, 35, with driving while intoxicated resulting in serious physical injury in the crash that happened Feb. 4. It is a Class D felony and if convicted Reid could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
Reid was not in custody on Monday but had made plans to surrender. The prosecutor’s office requested a $100,000 bond and that Reid be placed on GPS and alcohol monitoring.
The crash happened when the former linebackers coach and son of head coach Andy Reid struck two cars on the side of an entrance ramp along Interstate 435, near the team’s practice facility. Reid told an initial responding officer that he had left work, according to the probable cause statement.
He was driving over 83 mph two seconds before his vehicle slammed into the other vehicles, according to prosecutors, who also allege Reid had a serum blood alcohol content of .113 roughly two hours after the crash.
After the crash, Reid admitted to police that he had been drinking beforehand. A police officer noted that Reid’s eyes were “bloodshot and red,” according to court records.
The crash injured two young children, including 5-year-old Ariel Young, who suffered a traumatic brain injury. She was released from the hospital on April 2 and is being treated at home. Ariel is unable to talk or walk and is being fed through a feeding tube. She suffered a parietal fracture, brain contusions and subdural hematoma, according to prosecutors.
“The hope is that being in a familiar setting will trigger parts of her brain that have not woken up yet,” the family’s attorney, Tom Porto said Monday. “Undoubtedly, her recovery process will continue for a long time, if not indefinitely. It’s heartbreaking and we are not sure what the future holds.”
The Chiefs released a statement Monday: “The Kansas City Chiefs organization remains steadfast in our concern for all who have been impacted by this tragic accident. Our prayers are focused on Ariel’s continued healing and recovery. The Chiefs are regularly in contact with the family’s designated representative during this challenging time.”
According to court records, Reid’s vehicle struck the Chevrolet Impala which he said he did not see because it did not have any lights activated. Reid said he continued south on the interstate and then rear ended the Chevy Traverse at 67.7 mph, court documents show. He dialed 911 moments later, according to court documents.
Reid told an initial responding officer that he “was looking over his left shoulder to evaluate traffic so he could merge,” according to the probable cause statement.
According to court documents, the child’s mother, Felicia Miller, had arrived to help her cousin whose Chevy Impala had stalled after running out of gas. Miller said she got back into the driver’s seat of her Traverse and looked in the rear view when she saw the headlights of an approaching vehicle.
The impact of the rear end crash knocked Miller unconscious for a moment after the airbag struck her and broke her seat. When she woke, Miller called for her children. She located Ariel in the Traverse under the third seat that had folded over.
Ariel was unresponsive. An ambulance arrived and took the child to Children’s Mercy Hospital, according to prosecutors.
Miller’s sister, Angela Saenz, suffered facial cuts and a concussion and was treated at St. Luke’s Hospital, court records stated. Saenz said she did not remember much about the crash because she lost consciousness.
