5-year-old injured in car crash involving then-Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid is awake from coma

Eleven days after a crash involving then-Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid sent a 5-year-old into a coma, Ariel Young is awake, her family said. 

“Ariel is awake,” cousin Tiffany Verhulst wrote Monday on the GoFundMe page collecting donations for medical expenses. 

Verhulst had organized the fundraiser on behalf of Ariel’s mother Felicia. A GoFundMe spokesperson confirmed the validity of the page to the Kansas City Star. 

The Kansas City Police Department is investigating a Feb. 4 crash not far from the team practice facility in which Britt Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and then the team's outside linebackers coach, hit two other vehicles.  

One vehicle had run out of gas and the second was bringing it fuel when a Ram Laramie Sport pickup struck the stranded car and slammed into the stopped car, Kansas City police officer Dave Jackson told USA TODAY Sports. The collision injured three people, including children ages 5 and 4. Ariel Young, the 5-year-old remained in a coma a week after the accident, her family posted on their GoFundMe page. 

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“Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for Ariel and support the family,” Verhulst, the family member organizing the donations, wrote last Thursday. “She remains in a coma and there are no changes today. I’m hopeful that the next time I update this page, it’s with better news.”

On Monday night, as Ariel was awake, donations to the GoFundMe page surpassed $485,000. 

The crash occurred three days before the Chiefs faced the Buccaneers in Super Bowl 55. Britt Reid did not travel with the team or coach the game. He instead was placed on administrative leave, and his contract expired after the season. 

Andy Reid’s first public comments after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss were for the families in the crash.  

“My heart goes out to all those involved in the accident, in particular the family with the little girl fighting for her life,” he began his remarks from his postgame podium. “I can’t comment on it any more than I am here, so the questions you have, I am going to have to turn those down at the time.  

“But just from a human standpoint, man, my heart bleeds for everyone involved in that.”  

He said the following day that his son had surgery and was doing better. He reiterated that his heart “goes out to that little girl.” 

The NFL will investigate Britt Reid, a league spokesman confirmed to USA TODAY Sports last Thursday.  

“Our primary concern is for the young girl, her family, and the others who were injured,” the spokesman said. “The matter will be reviewed under the NFL’s personal conduct policy. We will continue to monitor developments and when law enforcement has completed its review, we will address this matter and take any appropriate action.”  

Court documents obtained by the Kansas City Star showed that four vials of blood were collected from Britt Reid to determine his blood-alcohol concentration and whether there was a presence of any controlled substances. Police wrote in a search warrant that Britt Reid’s eyes were “bloodshot and red” and that the officer could “smell a moderate odor of alcoholic beverages emanating from his person” when arriving at the scene of the crash. A sobriety test revealed four clues of impairment, according to the document.  

Jackson, the Kansas City police officer, did confirm to USA TODAY Sports that “impairment” was being investigated. 

This was not Britt Reid’s first run-in with law enforcement.  

Reid has been cited by law enforcement for speeding or careless driving on at least three occasions, including in Pennsylvania in 2011, and in 2018 and 2019 in Missouri. On Jan. 30, 2007, in Pennsylvania, Reid was arrested after an incident in which he was accused of pointing a gun at another driver. Reid pled guilty to charges for simple assault, carrying a firearm without a license and possessing a controlled substance without registration. That same day, his brother Garrett — who died from a heroin overdose in 2012 at age 29 — was arrested in another accident involving drug use.  

Britt Reid pled guilty to three more charges stemming from an August 2007 incident in the parking lot of a sporting goods store: driving under the influence of a controlled substance; possessing a controlled substance without registration; and use and possession of drug paraphernalia. He also had been arraigned for careless driving, court records show.  

Britt Reid, in his second year as Chiefs' outside linebackers assistant, coached with his father in Kansas City for the last eight seasons. He spent three years as defensive line coach (2016-18), one as assistant defensive line coach (2015) and two as a defensive quality control coach (2013-14).