5-year-old critically injured in crash with Britt Reid leaves hospital after 2 months

A young girl who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a crash involving former Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid has returned home after two months in the hospital, family said.

The Feb. 4 crash initially left 5-year-old Ariel Young in a coma, and also injured three of her family members, including her 4-year-old cousin. Reid, who crashed into the family along Interstate 435, was also injured. Reid has since been charged with driving while intoxicated.

“Ariel is at home recovering, we hope that her being in a familiar place will help her remember things,” family wrote Tuesday in an update on their GoFundMe page. “She is doing physical therapy but as of right now she still cannot walk, talk or eat like a normal 5-year-old.”

Ariel is unable to talk or walk and is being fed through a feeding tube. She suffered a parietal fracture, brain contusions and subdural hematoma, according to prosecutors.

“The hope is that being in a familiar setting will trigger parts of her brain that have not woken up yet,” the family’s attorney, Tom Porto, said this week. “Undoubtedly, her recovery process will continue for a long time, if not indefinitely. It’s heartbreaking and we are not sure what the future holds.”

A previous update from the family on GoFundMe on March 27 said that, while Ariel was improving slightly each day, she still had a long recovery ahead.

“Britt Reid is out everyday living his normal life while she cannot, please don’t let her story be forgotten,” family wrote at the time. “Court will take a long time and we don’t know what will be the outcome of it all. So please keep sharing her story and praying for her and the family.”

As of Wednesday morning, the GoFundMe totaled nearly $572,500 from more than 13,600 donors. Family has said the money will go in part toward her medical bills.

On Monday, the Jackson County Prosecutors Office charged Reid, 35, with driving while intoxicated resulting in serious physical injury, a Class D felony. If convicted, Reid could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

Prosecutors say the former Chiefs linebackers coach and son of head coach Andy Reid struck two cars on the side of an entrance ramp along Interstate 435, near the team’s practice facility. Reid told an initial responding officer that he had left work, according to the probable cause statement.

He was driving over 83 mph two seconds before his vehicle slammed into the other vehicles, according to prosecutors, who also allege Reid had a serum blood alcohol content of 0.113 roughly two hours after the crash. The legal limit is 0.08.

After the crash, Reid allegedly admitted to police that he had been drinking beforehand. A police officer noted that Reid’s eyes were “bloodshot and red,” according to court records.

A police officer said in the application for the search warrant that he could smell “a moderate odor of alcoholic beverages emanating from his person.” Reid allegedly admitted to the officer he had “2-3 drinks.”

At the scene, the officer conducted a field sobriety test. Reid was taken to Research Medical Center after complaining of stomach pain. He suffered a groin injury in the crash that required emergency surgery. Once he arrived at the hospital, investigators obtained a search warrant and collected four vials of blood to be tested for blood alcohol content and the presence of controlled substances.

Reid has a valid Kansas operator’s license and prior alcohol-related arrests in Pennsylvania and Arizona, according to prosecutors.

He surrendered to Kansas City police Monday afternoon and was released after posting $100,000 bond.

According to court documents, Ariel’s mother, Felicia Miller, had arrived on Feb. 4 to help her cousin whose Chevy Impala had run out of gas and stalled. Miller said she got back into the driver’s seat of her Traverse and looked in the rear view mirror when she saw the headlights of an approaching vehicle.

The impact of the rear end crash knocked Miller unconscious for a moment after the airbag struck her and broke her seat. When she woke, Miller called for her children. She located Ariel in the Traverse under the third seat that had folded over.

Ariel was unresponsive. An ambulance arrived and took the child to Children’s Mercy Hospital, according to prosecutors.

Miller’s sister, Angela Saenz, suffered facial cuts and a concussion and was treated at St. Luke’s Hospital, court records stated. Saenz said she did not remember much about the crash because she lost consciousness.

The Star’s Glenn E. Rice and Sam McDowell contributed.