By MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — The Kansas City Chiefs have placed outside linebackers coach Britt Reid on administrative leave amid an investigation into a car crash that left two young children injured.
“Outside Linebackers Coach Britt Reid has been placed on administrative leave following last Thursday’s multi-vehicle accident,” the professional football team said in a statement Tuesday. “We remain in the process of gathering information on the incident, and we will continue to assist local authorities as requested.”
Reid, 35, was involved in a three-vehicle collision on a highway near the Kansas City Chiefs’ training complex next to Arrowhead Stadium on Feb. 4. Reid was driving a Ram pickup truck when he struck two vehicles that were stopped on the side of southbound Interstate 435 just after 9 p.m. local time, according to a search warrant filed in Jackson County Circuit Court on Saturday by a detective with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department.
A 4-year-old child who was in the back seat of one of the vehicles that was hit was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. A 5-year-old child who was also in the backseat was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. All other vehicle occupants suffered minor injuries, according to a press release from the Kansas City Missouri Police Department.
“The 5-year-old child injured in this incident remains in critical condition with a brain injury,” police said in a statement Monday.
The Kansas City Chiefs has identified the critically injured child as Ariel Young.
“Our focus remains on Ariel Young and her family,” the team said in the statement Tuesday. “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.”
Police have said they are investigating whether Reid was impaired before the crash and that the probe could take several weeks.
ABC News has reached out to Reid for comment. It was unclear whether he has obtained legal representation.
The search warrant filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, which was obtained by Kansas City ABC affiliate KMBC, requested access to Reid’s cellphone to “determine if there was any phone activity prior to or at the time of the crash, that may have distracted his attention, and whether the phone was used after the crash to communicate about the incident with other persons.” Police seized Reid’s phone on Saturday, shortly after the warrant was granted, according to KMBC.
Reid did not travel with the Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl LV in Tampa last weekend because he was still hospitalized, a source told ESPN’s Dianna Russini. He could be hospitalized for days due to his injuries, the source said.
Reid’s father, Andy Reid, who is head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, addressed the crash during a press conference Sunday night after his team lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Super Bowl.
“My heart goes out to all those that were involved in the accident, in particular the family with the little girl who is fighting for her life,” Andy Reid said. “And listen, it’s a tough situation. I can’t comment on it any more than what I am here, so the questions that you have I’m going to have to turn those down at this time. But just from a human standpoint, my heart bleeds for everybody involved in that.”
ABC News’ Nicholas Cirone, Katie Conway, Matt Foster, Henderson Hewes and Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
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