5-year-old girl injured in crash involving former Kansas City Chiefs coach Britt Reid "likely" has permanent brain damage, lawyer says
The 5-year-old girl who was injured in a crash involving former Kansas City Chiefs coach Britt Reid "likely" has permanent brain damage, her family's lawyer said. Attorney Tom Porto gave an update Tuesday in an interview with "Good Morning America" on the health status of Ariel Young, who emerged from a coma in February.
"She's awake, which is a huge development," Porto said. "Likely, she has permanent brain damage that she will endure for the rest of her life. She's not walking. It's a sad, sad story."
Tiffany Verhulst, the child's aunt, said in a GoFundMe page for Young that she will be in a "wheelchair for the foreseeable future."
"We don't know how long it will take before she responds or talks again but we will never give up hope," Verhulst wrote Tuesday.
The girl was critically injured and a 4-year-old child sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the February 4 collision involving Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, CBS affiliate KCTV reported. Police said the younger Reid's truck hit a car that ran out of gas and then hit another car that was being driven by the relatives of the driver of the first car. A woman in the second car told police she crawled out of the vehicle and asked Reid to call 911 because she had lost her phone in the crash, according to KCTV.
Police said in a search warrant that when they arrived on scene, Reid smelled of alcohol and his eyes were bloodshot, according to KCTV. When asked if he had been drinking, one officer said Reid told him he had "2-3 drinks," KCTV reported. The crash occurred three days before the Chiefs lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Florida.
On Tuesday, Porto said that he doesn't have the toxicology results, but alleges that Reid was "likely over" the legal limit, based on statements given to police. He believes Reid should "absolutely" face charges in the incident.
"We're going to be advocating for the most serious charges and the most serious sentence that Britt Reid could receive," Porto said.
Reid joined the Chiefs in 2013, the same year his father was hired as head coach, as a defensive quality control coach. Reid was an outside linebackers coach for the past two seasons. After the crash, he was placed on administrative leave through the duration of his contract, which reportedly expired after the Super Bowl and he now is no longer with the team. "Our focus remains on Ariel Young and her family," the team said in an earlier statement.
The Reid family has dealt with drug and legal issues in the past. In 2007, a judge likened Andy Reid's home to a "drug emporium" and called Britt Reid an "addict" after sentencing him and his brother, Garrett Reid, to jail time for separate incidents. Garrett Reid died in 2012.
Jordan Freiman contributed to this report.