The child who was left in critical condition after a car crash involving a former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach is breathing on her own, police said.
Ariel Young, 5, “is now breathing on her own but remains unresponsive,” according to a Tuesday update from police in Kansas City, Missouri. Her relatives announced on their GoFundMe page Monday that she was “awake.”
She has been in a coma and has been hospitalized since Feb. 4, three days before the Super Bowl, after Britt Reid, the then-outside linebackers coach, allegedly slammed into two vehicles on the side of a highway entrance ramp. Young and another child were hurt in the accident.
Reid, who also underwent surgery following the crash, reportedly told police that he had consumed “two or three drinks” and had a prescription for Adderall when the crash occurred. Police are investigating whether he was impaired at the time of the crash.
Reid did not travel with the team to Tampa Bay for the Super Bowl, which the Chiefs lost 31-9 to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He is no longer employed by the team. Reid was placed on administrative leave following the accident, but his contract has expired, and the team did not renew it.
“Outside Linebackers Coach Britt Reid has been placed on administrative leave following last Thursday’s multi-vehicle accident. We remain in the process of gathering information on the incident, and we will continue to assist local authorities as requested,” the team said in a statement. “Our focus remains on Ariel Young and her family. We have reached out to the family to offer our support and resources to them during this difficult time, and we will continue to pray for her recovery.”
Reid’s father, Andy Reid, is the team’s head coach.
“My heart goes out to all those who were involved in the accident, in particular the family with the little girl who’s fighting for her life,” the elder Reid said, according to ESPN. “I can’t comment on it any more than what I am here. So the questions you have, I’m going to have to turn those down — but just from a human standpoint, my heart bleeds for everybody involved in that.”
In 2007, the younger Reid was sentenced to eight to 23 months in jail with his brother Garrett for running a “drug emporium” from their home, and he was involved in a road rage incident the same year, which resulted in a settlement.
