Missouri governor commutes prison sentence for ex-Kansas City Chiefs coach who seriously injured child in drunken-driving wreck
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson commuted the prison sentence for an ex-Kansas City Chiefs coach who seriously injured a 5-year-old girl in a February 2021 drunken-driving wreck.
Britt Reid, the former outside linebackers coach for the Chiefs and son of the team's head coach Andy Reid, had been sentenced to three years in prison. He had pleaded guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court to driving while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury.
"Mr. Reid has completed his alcohol abuse treatment program and has served more prison time than most individuals convicted of similar offenses," Parson's office said in a statement.
Reid will be under house arrest until the end of October 2025 and have to meet additional conditions of probation, including weekly meetings with a parole officer, behavior counseling and employment requirements, the governor's office said.
Reid was driving more than 80 mph in a 65 mph zone when his truck struck multiple cars near the Chiefs' stadium on Feb. 4, 2021. A girl in one of the vehicles, Ariel Young, suffered a traumatic brain injury, and several others were also injured. Reid also suffered injuries.
Reid had a blood-alcohol level of 0.113% two hours after the crash, the Associated Press reported. The legal limit is 0.08%.
Young's family had opposed a plea deal, the AP reported.
A Young family attorney told CBS News in a statement Saturday that "the family of Ariel Young is horrified and disgusted by the governor's decision to pardon this criminal. This is a slap in the face to a young girl who was in a coma for eight days and continues to endure the effects of the defendant's actions. All privileged people who do not obey the laws of the state of the Missouri should be encouraged by the governor's actions."
In her own statement Saturday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said that she "believed that the court's sentence of 3 years imprisonment for Britt Reid was a just sentence. The Court carefully considered the evidence and the harm to our 5-year-old victim, Ariel, and her family. It also properly considered the unlawful behavior of the defendant, a repeat offender in other states who chose again to drive while intoxicated."
"I had believed that the sentence was an example for others that even those with resources and privilege were not above the law," Baker went on, adding that the governor "used his political power to free a man with status, privilege and connections."