Britt Reid—son of Kansas City head coach Andy Reid, and a former assistant coach with his father's team—pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of driving while intoxicated, according to Missouri court records. The charge followed a February 2021 crash, not far from the team's football facility, that left five other people hurt and a 5-year-old girl in a coma for 11 days. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors have agreed to ask a judge to sentence Reid to no more than four years in prison. Without the plea deal, Reid would have faced up to seven years in prison, according to The Kansas City Star.
The crash happened a little after 9 p.m. on Feb. 4, a few days before Kansas City was scheduled to play Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl. According to a probable cause statement by Kansas City police, Reid was driving a white 2020 Dodge Ram pickup truck on Interstate 435, just south of Stadium Drive. He later told police that he was leaving work at the team's practice facility and was trying to merge into traffic. One officer at the scene reported that Reid's eyes were bloodshot and had an "odor of intoxicants," according to the probable cause statement. About two hours after the crash, police said, Reid had a blood-alcohol content of .113. The legal limit in Missouri is .08.
About the same time that Reid was driving, a Chevrolet Impala was stuck on the side of the highway. According to the probable cause statement, this is what happened: The driver told police that he was on his way to work at Home Depot when his car stopped; he thought he had run out of gas. So he turned on his hazard lights, but he knew the car battery was weak, and called his cousin, Felicia Miller, asking her to bring him some fuel. Miller drove him some fuel, along with her sister and their two children, including Miller's 5-year-old daughter, Ariel. Miller parked her Chevy Traverse just a bit ahead of the stalled Impala and turned on her hazards. But even with the gas, the Impala wouldn't start. Miller went back inside her Traverse. Her cousin put down the back seats of his car to grab the jumper cables from the trunk while staying inside his vehicle.
As he was making his way back to the front of his car, the Dodge Ram, driven by Reid, hit the Impala, according to police. The truck was going about 83 miles per hour seconds before impact, police said, citing the truck's internal data. The Dodge Ram continued, slamming into the back of the Chevy Traverse at about 67 miles per hour. Miller was sitting inside the car with her sister and the two children. The impact of the crash and the deployment of the air bag knocked Miller unconscious, she told police; when she awoke, she found her daughter with the seat folded over her. According to police, Ariel Miller suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, a left parietal fracture, brain contusions, and subdural hematomas. She was in a coma for 11 days, according to The Star, and in the hospital for more than two months.
In late 2021, the team agreed to a settlement with Ariel's family to help provide her with medical care for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, the court case continued, leading up to Monday's announcement of a plea deal. According to The Star, Reid and a local prosecutor both spoke in court. Reid said, "I regret what I did. I made a huge mistake." Local prosecutor Brady Twenter told the judge, "This plea offer is in the best interest of justice. "
But Ariel's family, including her mother, Felicia, disagreed. According to The Star, Miller and six others were all in the courtroom on Monday, wearing white T-shirts that read "Justice for Ariel." Miller said that she is opposed to the plea deal, adding, "I don't think he should receive it." A statement from the family's lawyer, Tom Porto, said, according to the Associated Press: “The five victims of this crime are outraged the prosecuting attorney is not seeking maximum sentence allowable by law. The defendant is a prior offender whose actions caused a 5-year-old girl to be in a coma and seriously injured three others.”
How much time Reid will spend in prison now rests with Circuit Court Judge Charles H. McKenzie. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28.
