Getty Chiefs assistant linebackers coach Britt Reid
Just days ahead of Super Bowl LV, Kansas City Chiefs assistant linebackers coach Britt Reid — son of head coach Andy Reid — was injured in a multi-vehicle crash on Thursday night.
The incident, which was first reported by KSHB 41 Action News, occurred around 9:00 p.m. CT just one exit south of the team’s practice facility at Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City. According to the Kansas City Police Department, a four-year-old and five-year-old child were also hurt, the latter in still in critical condition with life-threatening injuries as of Saturday. Heavy has since verified the official Go Fund Me page accepting donations on behalf of family devasted by the crash.
Reid’s injuries are considered to be non-life-threatening at this point in time. However, ESPN’s Dianna Russini reported on Saturday that he is expected to remain in a Kansas City area hospital for days with a “medical issue that developed at the scene but is not related to the accident.”
The Chiefs confirmed the accident in a statement to Heavy on Friday afternoon.
“The organization has been made aware of a multi-vehicle accident involving Outside Linebackers Coach, Britt Reid. We are in the process of gathering information, and we will have no further comment at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved.”
The reigning Super Bowl champions are currently scheduled to depart for Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon, with kickoff against the Buccaneers scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. On the coaching side, Russini and Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor have confirmed that Britt Reid did not travel with the team, while Andy Reid was on the team plane and will coach on Sunday.
KC Police tell me as of now no charges have been brought against Britt Reid, but say driver impairment IS under investigation. Reid WILL NOT travel to Tampa on Saturday. He is currently in the hospital with undisclosed injuries and could be hospitalized for days per sources.
I’m told Andy Reid is expected to coach in the Super Bowl, as @diannaESPN reported.
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Reid Admitted to Consuming ‘2-3 Drinks’ Prior to Crash
A search warrant obtained by Fox 4 Kansas City acknowledged that Reid admitted to having consumed “2-3 drinks” prior to the accident.
Here was a KCPD officer’s full description as stated in the report:
When I arrived at the location I made contact with REID and could smell a moderate odor of alcoholic beverages emanating from his person and his eyes were bloodshot and red. When asked if he had been drinking REID advised he had a 2-3 drinks. When asked if he was on prescription medication he advised he was on Adderall. I conducted a brief seated battery of Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) and observed signs of impairment. REID complained of stomach pain and was transported to [omitted] for treatment. When arrived at the hospital I conducted a full battery of HGN and observed 4 clues of impairment. A computer check revealed REID has a valid Kansas operator’s license and multiple prior DUI contacts.
The crash involved three vehicles in total, including Reid’s white RAM Laramie Sport pickup truck, which initiated the collision on two stopped vehicles, according to a statement obtained by Heavy from the Kansas City Police Department.
A grey Chevy Impala was on the southbound entrance ramp from Stadium Drive. The Chevy Impala ran out of gas and was initially stopped with flashers on, but the battery was dying. The driver and lone occupant of the Chevy Impala called his cousins for help. The cousins responded and parked their silver Chevy Traverse, south of the stranded Chevy Impala, with their lights on. A white Ram Laramie Sport pickup was traveling on the entrance ramp, to get on southbound I-435. The Ram pickup struck the left front of the stranded Chevy Impala. The Ram continued south and slammed into the rear of the stopped Chevy Traverse.
Both children injured in the accident were in the back seat of the Chevy Traverse, the second vehicle to arrive and be struck.
According to KCPD, no charges have been pressed yet while driver impairment is under investigation, which will last into the week following the Super Bowl, and likely longer as investigators await toxicology reports and medical updates.
Reid Pleaded Guilty to DUI in 2008, Jailed for Separate Road Rage Incident in 2007
In 2008, the then-22-year-old Reid pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of a controlled substance and drug possession stemming from an August 2007 incident outside of a Pennsylvania sporting goods store.
He was also jailed for a separate 2007 road rage incident in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, in which he “pleaded guilty to flashing a gun at another motorist,” according to ESPN. He served five months of his initial eight-to-23-month sentence before serving 15 months of parole with the Montgomery County drug court. Reid later reached a settlement with the motorist who sued him, Larry Johnson, in September 2014, according to the Daily Local News.
Upon the initial sentencing, Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill questioned whether Reid’s sons — including the late Garrett Reid who died of an accidental heroin overdose in his Lehigh University dorm room during Philadelphia Eagles training camp in August 2012 — should be living at home.
“It sounds more or less like a drug emporium there, with the drugs all over the house, and you’re an addict,” O’Neill told Britt Reid in November 2007, via ABC News.
According to the outlet, O’Neill “said both boys had been overmedicated throughout much of their lives and that Britt got hooked on painkillers when he suffered a football injury in high school.”
In July 2011, he was also pulled over by state police in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. Then 26, he was cited for “speeding, careless driving and tire-equipment violations,” via The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Reid, now 35, has spent the last eight seasons with the Chiefs, rising up his father’s staff from a defensive quality control position in 2013 to his current role working with the team’s linebackers. The second of five children, Reid made his NFL debut as a training camp coaching intern under the elder Reid while with the Eagles in 2009.
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Chris Licata is an NFL contributor covering the Kansas City Chiefs from enemy territory in Denver, Colorado. Follow him on Twitter @Chris__Licata or join the Heavy on Chiefs Facebook community for the latest out of Chiefs Kingdom!