Crash victim’s mom shocked by Reid commutation

Xuan Thai, ESPN Senior WriterMar 11, 2024, 05:14 PM ET
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The mother of the young girl injured in the 2021 crash involving former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid told ESPN she still hasn’t forgiven him for the crash and was shocked when Missouri Gov. Mike Parson commuted Reid’s sentence after 16 months in prison.

“We went to court, we [were] told, you’re going to get justice,” Felicia Miller told ESPN in an exclusive interview, her first since the March 1 commutation. “He’s put away for a year and about three months. So we didn’t get [any] justice. It’s not enough.

“I know they say sometimes you have to forgive and forget to move on,” said Miller. “But looking at my baby every day and seeing my daughter, how she has to live, and then seeing how he could be back at home, comfortable.”

Reid, the son of Chiefs coach Andy Reid, served 16 months of a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to felony driving while intoxicated resulting in serious physical injury. According to prosecutors, Reid was driving about 84 mph in a 65 mph zone when he hit two parked cars near Arrowhead Stadium in February 2021. Six people were injured, including Miller’s then-5-year-old daughter Ariel Young, who sustained a traumatic brain injury, was in a coma for 11 days and spent two months in a hospital.

Reid previously pleaded guilty to flashing a gun at another motorist in a 2007 incident, and while serving his sentence for that charge, he pleaded guilty to another unrelated charge of driving while under the influence of a controlled substance. Miller said she worries that Reid could hurt another family.

“He keeps just getting a little slap on a wrist when you keep just letting somebody get away, get away, get away. They’re going to continue to do it,” Miller said.

A spokesman for the governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Calls made to phone numbers listed for Reid were not returned.

Parson’s office has declined to give specifics about his decision to commute Reid’s sentence. In a statement to ESPN last week, Parson’s office said, “No request, official or otherwise, was made on behalf of Mr. Reid for this commutation.” A spokesperson for the office declined to comment beyond the statement.

Parson’s office told ESPN in a statement that Reid met parole eligibility requirements.

“Mr. Reid was sentenced to three years in a correctional facility with the eligibility for parole after serving 33 percent of his sentence (1 year in this case). Mr. Reid served one year and four months. He will serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until October 31, 2025, with strict conditions.”

Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker told ESPN last week she would have never agreed to a plea deal if she knew Reid would serve only 1½ years.

Parson, a self-proclaimed Chiefs fan, attended the Super Bowl in Las Vegas last month where the Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in four years. He received a tattoo to commemorate their win in 2023.

Amid public criticism of the decision, Parson expressed “his deepest sympathy for any additional heartache this commutation has caused the Young Family, as that was certainly not his intention,” according to the statement to ESPN.

“If it was reversed, it would have been a completely different situation,” Miller said. “If I was drunk and slammed into [Reid’s] car. He had his child in the car and his child was injured, it would have been over for me. My whole life would have been over.”

Miller said she was not notified by the governor’s office about the commutation, and she said she has not personally heard from Reid or his family since the accident. Asked if she would take their calls, she said “no.”

Young, now 8, has made significant progress since the accident but still has development delays and takes special education classes, Miller said. She also has balance issues and is aware that she is different from her siblings and friends.

“She always tells me, ‘I’m different from the other kids now,'” said Miller. “Oh, my God, that hurts. Seeing it in her face and seeing that stuff that she can’t do and knowing that’s how she feels about the whole thing, that she can’t do it, it hurts me.”

Young’s family and the Chiefs reached a confidential settlement agreement for an undisclosed sum in November 2021. As part of that agreement, the Chiefs will continue to pay for Ariel’s medical care for the rest of her life.