Victim’s family ‘outraged’ over deal as ex-Chiefs assistant Reid pleads guilty in crash

Britt Reid, the former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach, pleaded guilty Monday to felony driving while intoxicated and causing a 2021 crash that severely injured a 5-year-old girl in another vehicle.

During the 30-minute hearing, Reid admitted that on Feb. 4, 2021, he was intoxicated when his pickup truck slammed into two vehicles on the side of an entrance ramp along Interstate 435, near the team’s practice facility. The wreck injured two children, including Ariel Young, who suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“I regret what I did. I made a huge mistake,” said Reid, 37. “I apologize to the family. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone that night.”

Prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Reid and his attorney, J. R. Hobbs. In doing so, prosecutors agreed that they would ask Circuit Court Judge Charles H. McKenzie to sentence Reid to no more than four years in prison.

“This plea offer is in the best interest of justice,” assistant Jackson County prosecutor Brady Twenter told McKenzie.

In pleading guilty, Reid, who is the son of head coach Andy Reid, could have faced up to seven years in prison.

McKenzie said he could order Reid to serve the entire four years in prison, as recommended by the prosecutor’s office. But Missouri law also allows him to sentence Reid to serve just 120 days in jail and place him on five years probation.

Felicia Miller, Ariel’s mother, told McKenzie that she and her family opposed the plea agreement prosecutors reached with Reid and his attorneys.

“My family and I are opposed to the plea deal. I don’t think he should receive it,” Miller said.

Miller was joined in the courtroom with six relatives and supporters who wore white T-shirts with the words “Justice for Ariel” on the front.

Tom Porto, the attorney for the crash victims, also commented on the plea agreement:

The “victims of this crime are outraged the prosecuting attorney is not seeking the maximum sentence allowable by law,” he said. “The defendant is a prior offender whose actions caused a five-year-old girl to be in a coma and seriously injured three others.”

The hearing on Monday was set in motion nearly a week ago when Hobbs alerted the court that Reid planned to plead guilty to a felony charge of driving while intoxicated and causing a physical injury.

Hobbs released the following statement Monday morning:

“Mr. Reid continues to be remorseful for his conduct and hopes that his plea brings some sense of justice to all he has affected.”

A trial was scheduled to begin Sept. 26 at the Jackson County Circuit Court in downtown Kansas City but now will not occur.

McKenzie set the sentencing hearing for 1:30 p.m Oct. 28.

Reid stood before McKenzie dressed in a light blue suit with his hands buried in his front pockets and displayed no emotion as he responded to questions from his attorney about what happened that evening.

Reid said he left the stadium to drive home around 9 p.m.

He was driving 83 mph two seconds before the collision. Prosecutors said Reid had a serum blood alcohol content of 0.113 about two hours after the crash. The legal limit is 0.08, according to Missouri law.

Reid said his pickup truck struck a Chevrolet Impala, which he said he did not see because its lights were off. Reid said he continued south on the interstate and then rear-ended a Chevy Traverse at 67.7 mph. He dialed 911 moments later.

Ariel’s mother had arrived to help her cousin, whose Impala had run out of gas and stalled. Miller said she got back into the driver’s seat of her Traverse and looked in the rear view mirror when she saw the headlights of an approaching vehicle.

Reid told the responding officer that he “was looking over his left shoulder to evaluate traffic so he could merge,” according to prosecutors.

The impact of the rear-end crash momentarily knocked Miller unconscious after the airbag struck her and broke her seat. When she woke, Miller called out for her children. She managed to find Ariel in the Traverse under the third seat that had folded over.

Ariel was unresponsive. Paramedics arrived and rushed the girl to Children’s Mercy Hospital, police said.

Following the crash, a Kansas City police officer noticed that Reid’s eyes were “bloodshot and red,” according to prosecutors. Reid told the officer at the scene that he had been drinking and had “two to three drinks.”

Reid suffered a groin injury and underwent emergency surgery after being taken to a nearby hospital.

Ariel sustained a traumatic brain injury that included swelling and bleeding. She also suffered a parietal fracture, brain contusions and subdural hematomas.

The crash left Ariel hospitalized in critical condition for an extended period. She was in a coma for 11 days and released from the hospital on April 2, 2021.

In November, the Kansas City Chiefs and Ariel’s family reached a confidential financial agreement to cover her ongoing medical treatment and “long-term financial stability.”