Ex-Chiefs assistant Britt Reid to face jury trial in April on DWI charge
Former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid will stand trial in April on the felony charge of driving while intoxicated, a Kansas City judge decided on Thursday morning.
Reid, who will face a jury trial, appeared virtually in court with his lawyer, J.R. Hobbs, at a hearing that lasted less than 20 minutes. Via the Kansas City Star, Hobbs said that he expects several people to testify on Reid's behalf. Reid was charged with the DWI in April and pleaded not guilty in June.
The February collision
The incident that led to this charge happened just days before Reid and his father, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, were due to coach the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. On the evening of Feb. 4, Reid crashed his pickup truck into two cars that were parked on the side of Interstate 435 near the Chiefs’ practice facility.
Prosecutors allege that Reid was driving over 80 mph just two seconds before impact. Officers at the scene noted that his eyes appeared bloodshot and they believed they could smell alcohol on his breath. According to court documents obtained by the Kansas City Star, the prosecution alleges that Reid's serum blood alcohol content was 0.113 about two hours after the crash. (The legal limit is 0.08.) Reid also allegedly admitted to police after the crash that he'd had 2-3 drinks that night.
The collision injured two children. One child's injuries were not life-threatening, but 5-year-old Ariel Young had swelling and bleeding around her brain. She was in a coma for 11 days and had to stay in the hospital for nearly two months. When she was released on April 2, she was not able to walk or talk, and was still being fed through a feeding tube.
Reid injured his groin in the crash and had to undergo emergency surgery. He did not travel with the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, and the team placed him on administrative leave on Feb. 9 while the investigation was still ongoing. The Chiefs let his contract expire the next day, meaning he was no longer an employee of the organization.
