The family of Ariel Young is “horrified” and “disgusted” by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s (R) decision to commute the sentence of former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid.
“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,” Ariel’s family attorney Tom Porto 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.”
“The entire case was about equal justice,” Porto added. “Who could possibly argue that justice is blind in this scenario?”
Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, crashed into two vehicles near the team’s training facility in February 2021. Authorities say he was driving 84 mph with a blood alcohol level of 0.113, well over the legal limit of 0.08, at the time of the accident.
Ariel, who was 5-years-old at the time, was in one of the vehicles. She suffered severe traumatic brain injury, a parietal fracture, brain contusions, subdural hematomas and was in a coma for 11 days.
Reid took a plea deal in 2022 and was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to one felony count of driving while intoxicated, causing serious injury.
Parson commuted his sentence Friday saying: “Mr. Reid has completed his alcohol abuse treatment program and has served more prison time than most individuals convicted of similar offenses.”
Porto told The Daily Beast that Parson’s office did not contact him, the family, or the prosecutor on the case about the commutation.
“How would the governor feel if this was his daughter?” Ariel’s mother said in a statement provided through the attorney. “It seems the laws don’t apply equally to the haves and have nots. The haves get favors. The have nots serve their sentence.”