After reducing DWI sentence for Reid’s son, Missouri gov offers ‘sympathy’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has offered his “deepest sympathy” to the family of a 5-year-old girl who was seriously injured in a drunken driving crash, after facing criticism for releasing from prison the driver who caused the crash, former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid.
But in a statement Tuesday to The Kansas City Star, Parson stopped short of apologizing for commuting the remainder of Reid’s three-year prison sentence to house arrest, subject to conditions.
Parson’s office said no one asked the governor — who is a Chiefs fan — to commute the sentence, including Reid himself, his father Chiefs coach Andy Reid, or anyone else associated with the team that recently won the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year.
Parson spokesman Johnathan Shiflett later provided a copy of the statement to The Associated Press.
“It seems the laws don’t apply equally to the haves and have nots. The haves get favors. The have nots serve their sentence,” the injured girl’s mother, Felicia Miller said in a separate statement provided through the family’s attorney.
Prosecutors said Reid was intoxicated and driving at about 84 mph (135 kph) in a 65 mph (105 kph) zone when his Dodge truck hit two cars on an entrance ramp to Interstate 435 near Arrowhead Stadium on Feb. 4, 2021.
Six people were injured in the collision, including Reid and 5-yearold Ariel Young, who suffered a traumatic brain injury. One of the vehicles he hit had stalled because of a dead battery, and the second was owned by Felicia Miller, who had arrived to help.
Reid pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to three years. Parson reduced that term and ordered his release on March 1. Reid had been expecting to be released about eight weeks later.
In his statement, Parson expressed his “deepest sympathy for any additional heartache this commutation has caused the Young Family,” saying that was not his intention.
The Republican governor, a longtime Chiefs season ticket holder who celebrated with the team at its recent Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City, has faced criticism even from within his own party.
“This is not justice,” said State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican who chairs the Missouri Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, in a post on X.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement that the original sentence was “just,” noting that the crash wasn’t Britt Reid’s first legal issue. He graduated from a drug treatment program in Pennsylvania in 2009 after a series of run-ins with law enforcement. His father was coach of the Philadelphia Eagles at the time.
BILLS CUT FIVE
The Buffalo Bills’ salary cap-related purge of players cut deep into the team’s core with veteran safety Jordan Poyer and center Mitch Morse being among five players the team announced it had released on Wednesday.
And cornerback Tre’Davious White is also being cut, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to The AP on the condition of anonymity because the Bills did not announce White being cut because of the timing of his release. White, who is recuperating after tearing his right Achilles tendon in Week 4, is being designated as a post-June 1 cut, which provides the Bills additional cap savings.
The three players alone combined for 27 seasons of NFL experience, with 16 of those years spent with the Bills. The moves made by the four-time defending AFC East champions were necessitated with Buffalo entering the offseason being a projected NFLhigh $44 million over the 2024 season cap.
Also cut were sixth-year backup cornerback Siran Neal, backup receiver Deonte Harty and running back Nyheim Hines.