OPINION|
By all appearances, it seems that when the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl the team not only received a Lombardi Trophy, but also — thanks to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson — the head coach got a get-out-of-jail card for his son.
In a decision that baffles and angers me, Parson reduced the prison sentence of former-and-fired Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid, son of head coach Andy Reid.
This means Britt Reid, who seriously injured a 5-year-old girl while he was driving drunk on Feb. 4, 2021, can spend the rest of his three-year prison sentence with the creature comforts of living under house arrest.
Britt Reid, 38, has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. He once pulled a gun during a road rage incident in Pennsylvania.
On the night of his crash, Britt Reid had just left the Chiefs' training facility when at 9:10 p.m. he crashed into two vehicles along the shoulder of Interstate Highway 435. He was going 83 mph.
One of the vehicles had run out of gas. A person in that vehicle called someone, who arrived to assist. Both vehicles were parked off the highway with lights on.
Six people were injured, including 5-year-old Ariel Young, who sustained a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for 11 days. According to her family, Young continues to suffer impairment.
Britt Reid's blood alcohol content two hours after the accident was 0.113 percent. Missouri's legal limit is 0.08 percent. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 1, 2022, to driving while intoxicated causing a physical injury.
Sentence commuted only 19 days after Super Bowl victory
Britt Reid’s sentencing reprieve was one of three commutations and 36 pardons made public late Friday afternoon, March 1, by the governor’s office.
One of the many things I've learned in my journalism career is that when politicians want news to fly under the radar, they release it late on a Friday afternoon.
In my view, Parson's commutation of Britt Reid's prison sentence is brazen.
It's as if he was asked by a skeptic if there was, indeed, a two-tiered justice for the “haves” and the “have-nots” in the United States. And his response was:
Yes! Watch this! Britt Reid can go home now because everybody loves his Dad!
Parson did this a mere 19 days after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.
I'm not buying what Parson is saying. The governor's office released this statement:
“Mr. Reid has completed his alcohol abuse treatment program and has served more prison time than most individuals convicted of similar offenses. Mr. Reid will be under house arrest until October 31, 2025, with strict conditions of probation, including weekly meetings with a parole officer, weekly behavioral counseling attendance, weekly meetings with a peer support sponsor, and stringent community service and employment requirements.”
I would have thought prosecutors would have been consulted
I would have thought that those who prosecuted Britt Reid would know more than the governor if Reid has “served more prison time than most individuals convicted of similar offenses.”
Wouldn't the prosecutors also be the best sources for the details of the case, the remorse, the criminal history of the defendant, the plea and the sentence?
Apparently not.
The governor's office never contacted them in advance, according to a March 4 story in the Missouri Independent. The family of Ariel Young, the young girl injured, also was never contacted in advance.
The Missouri Independent reported their responses:
“There simply can be no response that explains away the failure to notify victims of the offender,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a press release. She later added: “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.”
Tom Porto, the attorney for Ariel’s parents, said the family was “horrified” by the decision.
“The family is disgusted, I am disgusted, and I believe… that the majority of the people in the state of Missouri are disgusted by the governor’s actions,” he told The Daily Beast.
“If you drink and drive and you put a little girl in a coma … you should have to serve the entire sentence that a judge of this state gave you,” he added.
Porto also provided a statement from Ariel’s mother, Felicia Miller, who asked: “How would the governor feel if this was his daughter? It seems the laws don't apply equally to the haves and have-nots. The haves get favors. The have-nots serve their sentence.”
Criticism bipartisan, including Jay Ashcroft
Criticism of Parson's action on Britt Reid has been bipartisan. Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, the GOP frontrunner to replace Parson, who is term-limited, told the Kansas City Star:
“Britt Reid's reckless decision to drive drunk left Ariel Young with a lifelong traumatic brain injury and while the Reid family obviously has a special place in the hearts of Missourians and Kansas City Chiefs' fans, that does not entitle them to special treatment. My heart goes out to the Young family.”
News stories years ago describe how Britt Reid, then 21, was involved in a road-rage incident in Pennsylvania on Jan. 30, 2007. He pulled a gun on a motorist. He was charged with drug and weapon offenses.
While on bail, Britt Reid was arrested for driving while intoxicated. He was later convicted and a year later was paroled from prison into drug treatment court.
At the time, his father was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Also in 2008, his brother Garrett Reid, then 24, was sentenced on drug and traffic charges in Pennsylvania. Garrett Reid was the oldest of the five children of Tammy and Andy Reid.
Garrett Reid was 29 when he died of an accidental heroin overdose on Aug. 5, 2012.
This column is packed with tragedy. But the most galling part, in my view, is the harm to victims and the embarrassment to our legal system when a governor bypasses the prosecutors in the trenches to play Santa Claus.
This is Pokin Around column No. 165.
