The family of the 5-year-old girl who was severely injured by former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid in a drunk driving crash is “disgusted” by the governor’s decision to commute his sentence, the family’s lawyer said.
Reid, the son of Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid, took a plea deal in 2022 and received three years in prison in connection with the crash that left 5-year-old Ariel Young temporarily in a coma.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons commuted Reid’s sentence Friday night, saying he had “completed his alcohol abuse treatment program and has served more prison time than most individuals convicted of similar offenses.” Reid will remain on house arrest until Oct. 31, 2025.
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Tom Porto, the attorney for Ariel’s parents, said the family was “horrified” by the decision.
“The family is disgusted, I am disgusted, and I believe… that the majority of the people in the state of Missouri are disgusted by the governor’s actions,” he told The Daily Beast.
“If you drink and drive and you put a little girl in a coma… you should have to serve the entire sentence that a judge of this state gave you,” he added.
Porto also provided a statement from Ariel’s mother, Felicia Miller, who asked: “How would the governor feel if this was his daughter?”
“It seems the laws don't apply equally to the haves and have nots,” she added. “The haves get favors. The have nots serve their sentence.”
Andy Reid and son Britt Reid in 2006.
Drew HallowellAuthorities found Reid was driving at 84 mph with a blood alcohol level of .113—well over the state’s 0.08 legal limit—when he struck the car containing Ariel and her mother, who had pulled over to help a family member whose car had broken down.
The impact crushed the back seat where Ariel was sitting, leaving her with a severe traumatic brain injury, a parietal fracture, brain contusions and subdural hematomas. Ariel remained in a coma for nearly two weeks and suffered memory loss and issues with speech and movement.
Reid had previously served time for flashing a gun at another driver in a road rage incident in 2007, and pleaded guilty while in prison to driving under the influence in a separate case, according to ABC 7.
The family was infuriated when Reid was allowed to take a guilty plea and received a sentence of three years, rather than the seven he could have received if the case went to trial. Miller assailed the court in a victim impact statement at the time, saying her daughter’s life was “forever changed because of Britt Reid.”
Porto, who said he had been texting with Miller all morning, said the family was equally incensed to learn that Reid would be released early.
“The entire case was about equal justice,” he said. “Who could possibly argue that justice is blind in this scenario?”
The lawyer added that the governor’s office had not contacted him, the family, or the prosecutor on the case about the commutation, and assailed the governor for granting it on a Friday afternoon and “thinking no one would notice.”
“To do this and not even contact the family, it’s just disgusting,” he said. “What about the victims of this crime?”
“I hope he had a good time at the Super Bowl though,” he added.
