The mother of the child injured when Britt Reid was driving intoxicated believes Missouri’s governor showed a double standard by commuting the sentence of the former Kansas City Chiefs coach.
Felicia Miller gave her first public interview since Reid, who is the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, was freed from prison earlier this month.
‘I was really pissed about it. That’s why I needed this whole week to take some time just to calm down about the whole situation,’ she told ESPN in a story published Monday. ‘I was angry and then I was like, dang, this man didn’t even do a whole two years and he’s already out. If it was reversed, oh, it would be a complete different situation… because look who we’re talking about. We’re talking about Britt Reid, he was the assistant coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and we’re in Kansas City.
‘If it was just me, just somebody driving down the road, especially if I was drunk and slammed into his 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’s daughter, Ariel Young, was five years old in 2021 when she was in one of two cars that Reid hit while he was driving drunk at a speed of 83 miles per hour. She was one of six people injured and suffered severe brain damage. She spent two months in the hospital and was in a coma for 11 days.
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Governor Mike Parson commuted Reid’s sentence on March 1. The coach served less than half of his sentence in prison and will remain on house arrest through October 31 of next year.
Reid, who has previous criminal charges on his record, was an assistant linebackers coach at the time and struck a plea deal for a felony count of driving while intoxicated resulting in serious physical injury. The maximum sentence for his charges was seven years. He was sentenced to three.
The family’s attorney, Tom Porto, also spoke with ESPN and suggested that Parson let his bias toward the Super Bowl champions get in the way of justice.
‘I’m not talking about somebody that casually watches them on TV,’ Porto said. ‘He’s a guy that’s a season ticket holder. He goes to games. He went to the Super Bowl. He went to Super Bowl after parties. He went to the Super Bowl parade, the rally, all of the stuff.’
‘The Governor did not contact anyone who handled this case, or those directly impacted, including Ariel’s family. There simply can be no response that explains away the failure to notify victims of the offender,’ she said in a statement.
‘I simply say I am saddened by the self-serving political actions of the Governor and the resulting harm that it brings to the system of justice. But my office will fight for just outcomes regardless of social status, privilege or one’s connections. This system of justice still stands and will prevail over any fleeting political knock.’
Miller said that she hasn’t forgiven Reid for his actions and further expressed her frustration at his release.
‘I know they say sometimes you have to forgive and forget to move on,’ she said. ‘… Looking at my baby every day, seeing my daughter how she has to live and then seeing how he could be back at home comfortable, no I don’t.’