The family attorney for a 5-year-old girl involved in a devastating three-car crash last month is speaking out for the first time.
In an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America,” Tom Porto, the family attorney of the Young family -- whose daughter, Ariel, 5, was injured after former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid struck their vehicle -- is describing the severity of the wreck that nearly killed the five-year-old girl.
Ariel is still fighting for her life in a Kansas City, Missouri, hospital with a brain injury and unable to speak, according to Porto.
“This wasn’t a fender bender,” Porto told “Good Morning America.” “This was a serious life-altering event.”
Early last month, Reid -- who is also the son of Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid -- hit a car belonging to Ariel’s family. Her mom, aunt and 4-year-old cousin had pulled over to the side of a highway to help a 19-year-old family member whose car had run out of gas. According to police, Reid was driving at highway speeds when his pickup truck struck the first car.
Ariel, who was in the second car, suffered life-threatening injuries, while her 4-year-old cousin, who was also in the car, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Both were transported to the hospital. The driver of the car Reid hit first and the two adults in the second car sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
“She’s awake, which is a huge development,” Porto said of Ariel. “She likely has permanent brain damage that she will endure for the rest of her life. She’s not walking -- it’s a sad, sad, sad story.”
In exclusive photos obtained by ABC News, Reid’s truck was totaled and the two cars that police say he ran into -- including Ariel’s backseat, in which she was sitting in the second row of her vehicle – was flattened and unrecognizable.
“When you look at those pictures, you wonder how anybody made it out of that car alive,” Porto said.
According to a search warrant application obtained by ABC News, an officer on-scene reported smelling “a moderate odor of alcoholic beverages emanating from [Reid].” Reid told the officer he’d had “2-3 drinks” and was on the prescription drug “Adderall.”
He was injured in the wreck and taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries and did not join the Chiefs in Tampa for the Super Bowl.
The investigation is ongoing and no charges have yet been filed in the case.
“We’re going to be advocating for the most serious charges and the most serious sentence that Britt could ever receive,” Porto said. “We don’t have the toxicology back, I don’t know what it is going to be. What I do know are the statements that he made to police that night. If you have two or three drinks, and then you get behind the wheel of a car, you are likely over the legal limit.” [Reply]
Originally Posted by burt:
I can't disagree with that. He is at fault.....but everyone jumps on him being drunk. We do't know this. I guess my point is, he is either guilty of a mistake or guilty of being a drunken POS....but let's not jump to either conclusion.
Cops smelled a moderate amount of alcohol and he admitted to drinking beforehand. [Reply]
Originally Posted by suzzer99:
2-3 drinks and the smell of alcohol is plenty. You're not going to smell like alcohol after 2 normal drinks unless you spill one on yourself. Even if it comes out he's at .05 - that still likely contributed to the crash.
Plus it's always more drinks than what people admit to the cops. Probably more like 5-6.
^^^
This. He said he had a couple drinks. That means he had like 6. Minimum. [Reply]
download the pic and them zoom in. Like I said, I'd like to see hi res pics.
You tell me what you see? Cutting the seats out? look at the pic....
I am not doing your homework for you.
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
So you’re assuming they weren’t in child seats at ALL from the tiny Yahoo photo, Cooper?
Big assumption. We can’t even see the backseat, really, and we have no way of knowing what they did to get them out of the seats. Cutting the seats out/removing them during the course of extricating the kids from a horrendous accident wouldn’t be surprising.
Originally Posted by DJJasonp:
I havent followed this story super closely, but did the broken-down car have hazards on, etc.?
Point i'm getting at - this might have happened with a sober driver, let alone an impaired one.
Lots of good lessons to learn here.
From my understanding. 3 car accident. Soo many details have not been released. Which to me leads to reid's favor as media usually loves to leak things.
I am guessing the second car didn't have lights on.
Will wait til all the info is released. But again, people of privilege need to use those resources. No excuse. [Reply]
Or maybe he drove over to Skins and took the shortcut back to Stadium rd.
Originally Posted by SuperBowl4:
Yep. Who hired Britt Reid? Clark Hunt? Or Andy Reid? Drinking on the job maybe? Or did BR have a few drinks waiting for himself in his parked car after work? It doesn't look good anyway you spin it. BR admitted he had 2-3 drinks. A Uber or Lyft or Zip or a old school TAXI could have prevented this. No excuse these days.
I got stopped in my 500E on 435 + Holmes for speeding and when they noticed alcohol on my breath. They towed my baby and took me to Hickman mills where I passed a breath test. I had to have my wife and kids come pick me up....When it comes to booze on your breath, your assumed guilty by the cops.
I pursued the matter after the Mercedes had 5 more miles on it than when it was towed.
My atty told me to behave myself, I didn't make any friends.
The impound lot got a new employee and I got $500 and my atty made $5k in legal fees that KCMO paid, eventually.
I friend of mine who was the Raymore prosecutor told me that after 8-9 pm, everyone's drunk
Originally Posted by suzzer99:
2-3 drinks and the smell of alcohol is plenty. You're not going to smell like alcohol after 2 normal drinks unless you spill one on yourself. Even if it comes out he's at .05 - that still likely contributed to the crash.
Plus it's always more drinks than what people admit to the cops. Probably more like 5-6.
Originally Posted by SuperBowl4:
Drinking on the job maybe? Or did BR have a few drinks waiting for himself in his parked car after work? It doesn't look good anyway you spin it. BR admitted he had 2-3 drinks. A Uber or Lyft or Zip or a old school TAXI could have prevented this. No excuse these days.
The Chiefs football facility and parking lot at Arrowhead are filled with security cameras so it wouldn't be hard to determine when/where Britt Reid was drinking (unless he was hiding in the bathroom drinking).
There are also security guards stationed inside the entrance to the Chiefs facility and also the gate outside of the facility and these guards could have potentially sensed that Britt Reid was drinking and/or was possibly intoxicated. [Reply]
Originally Posted by cooper barrett:
I got stopped in my 500E on 435 + Holmes for speeding and when they noticed alcohol on my breath. They towed my baby and took me to Hickman mills where I passed a breath test. I had to have my wife and kids come pick me up....When it comes to booze on your breath, your assumed guilty by the cops.
I pursued the matter after the Mercedes had 5 more miles on it than when it was towed.
My atty told me to behave myself, I didn't make any friends.
The impound lot got a new employee and I got $500 and my atty made $5k in legal fees that KCMO paid, eventually.
I friend of mine who was the Raymore prosecutor told me that after 8-9 pm, everyone's drunk
Ahhh yes. The cooper "hey this Britt Reid guy isn't that bad. We've all done some silly things before. Cops probably made the whole thing up" post
Ok now tell us about how the mom was the true villain here. [Reply]
Originally Posted by suzzer99:
2-3 drinks and the smell of alcohol is plenty. You're not going to smell like alcohol after 2 normal drinks unless you spill one on yourself. Even if it comes out he's at .05 - that still likely contributed to the crash.
Plus it's always more drinks than what people admit to the cops. Probably more like 5-6.
Yep...also...saying 2-3 drinks makes it sound like you're not sure of how many you've had. [Reply]
Cops made what up? I only have the fact that Britt said he had a couple of drinks and that he was on a med. There is no mention in the warrant that he was not in control of has faculties, unable to walk or slurred his words. But he is guilty?
You ever considered shared negligence? If she put the kids at risk by parking on what I believe is a 55MPH, Interstate zone, or by not restraining them then, this will become important, both when charging Britt and settling or litigating the suits that surely will come forward..
If Britt tests under a .08 he can still be charged with a felony DUI but I doubt that it ever flies as a felony charge. If it's at or above it may depend on a lot of what I discussed above.
I have doubts that the kids were in child seats, no less correctly or the proper ones. It takes time to get kids into them but I don't see them in the SUV, at all. car seats are locked in by seat belts.
I question if she was parked in the middle of the road, from the pictures, I think she had to be. Was there 2 lanes or 1? as of now the location on the ramp has not been released.
Personally, I'm going with shared negligence. The kids are the innocent victims. This is where lawyers make their money.
But at this time we don't know who is in the food chain but we know that Airport CJR and it's insurers, FCA, and Britt's insurance company look like they have a lot of exposure.
Originally Posted by mkp785:
Ahhh yes. The cooper "hey this Britt Reid guy isn't that bad. We've all done some silly things before. Cops probably made the whole thing up" post
Ok now tell us about how the mom was the true villain here.
It's well known that the POPO thinks that 2X or even 3X rule is fact but they ask you that with a flashlight in your eye for a reason.
When they towed my Mercedes there was a conversation between officers about the fact that I was probably the only person ever not to lie about their consumption.
It happened to me again, 5 years later, one Sunday afternoon in my 240Z.
They drove me to station on M291 and I blew a .038% and they drove me back to my car. When he dropped me off he made a positive comment about me not lying to him. I guess the Guinness has a certain stench to it
Britt's history with the legal system makes me ponder his truthfulness since he's smart enough to :-) and volunteer nothing, Instead... [Reply]
ClevelandBronco 03-03-2021, 03:39 PM
This message has been deleted by ClevelandBronco.
Reason: No point in just being confrontational. I'm trying to learn.
