Three months later, and just three days before Kansas City played in its second straight Super Bowl, Britt Reid drove away from the team’s practice facility after having combined Adderall and “two or three drinks,” according to his statement to the police. But neither the team nor the N.F.L. has responded to questions about Reid’s drinking or whether other team employees also did so.
He steered his truck onto an on-ramp to Interstate 435, where a car had stalled alongside the roadway. The driver’s cousin, Felicia Miller, had arrived to help, and parked her car in front of the stalled car. Driving 83.9 m.p.h., Britt Reid slammed into the disabled car and then hit Miller’s car, crushing the back seat where Miller’s 5-year-old daughter, Ariel, sat.
Ariel was pinned beneath the driver’s seat and suffered severe traumatic brain injury, brain contusions and subdural hematomas. She was in a coma for 11 days and remained in the hospital for two months.
Britt Reid’s blood alcohol concentration two hours after the crash was 0.113, according to the police statement. The legal limit to operate a motor vehicle in Missouri is 0.08.
Reid had a groin injury severe enough to require surgery. The team went to Tampa for the Super Bowl without him, and played dismally, losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-9. Andy Reid has spoken at length about the accident only once, in the news conference after that game.
“My heart goes out to all of those that were involved in the accident, in particular the family with the little girl that was fighting for her life,” he said without discussing details. “Just from a human standpoint, my heart bleeds for everybody involved in that.”
Britt Reid’s contract expired in the days after the Super Bowl. Kansas City did not renew it.
A Maximum of Four Years
In November 2021, the team announced it had reached a settlement with Miller and her family to ensure that Ariel had “world-class medical care and long-term financial stability.” Per its terms, no one involved in the settlement can disclose its details.
