KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 5-year-old critically injured in the car crash involving now-former Chiefs coach Britt Reid has woken up from her coma, according to an update posted late Monday on a GoFundMe page for the family.
Reid, whose employment with the Chiefs ended last week, struck two cars with his pickup truck on the night of Feb. 4, according to a search warrant application obtained by The Kansas City Star. The impact into the second vehicle injured two young children, including 5-year-old Ariel, who has remained in critical condition.
The GoFundMe page, organized by a family member on behalf of Ariel’s mother, has posted regular updates that Ariel is in a coma, but a three-word post Monday offered the first glimpse of positive news.
“Ariel is awake,” it read, offering no further details.
The page, which has reached nearly $500,000 in donations, previously stated that Ariel had swelling and bleeding in and around her brain. Her 4-year-old cousin sustained a concussion in the crash, according to the page.
Kansas City police is still investigating the crash, a process it says could take weeks to complete. Police seized Reid’s cell phone as part of that investigation, according to court records.
Reid, 35, is no longer a Chiefs employee after eight seasons with the team. They placed him on administrative leave last week before allowing his contract to expire without renewal, effectively ending his employment with the organization.
The Chiefs last commented on the matter last week, stating that they are assisting local authorities, adding, “Our focus remains on Ariel on 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.”
The NFL has also said it will review the crash, per its personal conduct policy. Andy Reid said last week that his son had surgery after the crash. Britt Reid did not travel with the team to Tampa for the Super Bowl, which was played three days later.
Reid hit two cars on the side of an entrance ramp along Interstate 435, near the team’s practice facility, a police report said. Two kids were in the second vehicle.
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.” The officer also wrote that he observed Reid’s eyes were “bloodshot and red.” Reid allegedly admitted to the officer he had “2-3 drinks.”
Police collected four vials of blood from Reid, which would determine the blood alcohol content and the presence of any controlled substances, according to court documents.
