The Denver Post

Brit Reid drank ahead of car crash

- By Kevin Draper and Ken Belson

Britt Reid, the outside linebacker­s coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and a son of the head coach, Andy Reid, told police officers he had “two or three drinks” before he was involved in an automobile crash Thursday night that left a child with life-threatenin­g injuries, according to a search warrant filed in Jackson County, Missouri, circuit court.

The crash occurred just days before the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on Sunday, when the Chiefs, the reigning NFL champions, played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chiefs flew to Tampa on Saturday, but Britt Reid, 35, did not make the trip.

According to the search warrant, an officer could smell “a moderate odor of alcoholic beverages” on Reid after the crash. The search warrant said police sought to draw Reid’s blood and test it for alcohol and other controlled substances.

In response to an inquiry about a possible car crash involving Britt Reid, a spokesman for the Police Department in Kansas City, Missouri, said that a crash had occurred on Interstate 435, not far from the Chiefs’ training facility.

The spokesman would not provide more details or identify anyone who was involved in the crash, citing a Missouri law that prohibits police from releasing the names of people who have not been charged with a crime. But the details in the police incident report matched the search warrant, which does name Reid.

According to police, a vehicle ran out of gas on a freeway entrance ramp less than 1 mile from Arrowhead Stadium. The driver stopped with his flashers on and called his cousins for help. When they arrived, the cousins parked in front of the disabled car and left their lights on.

Reid entered the on-ramp driving a Ram pickup truck and hit the left front of the stranded car, according to the police incident report. The driver was sitting in the car and was not injured.

Reid’s pickup then slammed into the rear of the cousins’ car. The driver and an adult in the front passenger seat were not injured. But a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old sitting in the back were both injured and taken to the hospital, the 5-year-old with life-threatenin­g injuries. The 5-year-old was still in critical condition Monday morning with a brain injury, according to police.

After the Super Bowl, which the Chiefs lost, 31-9, Andy Reid addressed his son’s car crash for the first time.

“My heart goes out to all those that were involved in the accident, in particular the family with the little girl who’s fighting for her life,” Andy Reid said, adding that his “heart bleeds.”

Britt Reid had non-life-threatenin­g injuries, police said, but complained of stomach pain and was also taken to a hospital after the crash.

“Most serious-injury/fatality crashes take weeks to investigat­e, as do criminal investigat­ions,” the Kansas City Police Department said in a statement released Monday. “This is no different.”

TA MPA , FL A . » Tom Brady’s coming back. So is Bruce Arians.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are already thinking about what it’ll take to repeat as Super Bowl champions. The challenge begins with trying to keep some key components together for next season.

Brady threw three touchdown passes on the way to claiming a record seventh NFL title with a 31-9 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs — two to Rob Gronkowski and one to Antonio Brown, both of whom played on oneyear deals after being lured to Tampa Bay by the 43-year-old quarterbac­k.

Leonard Fournette ran for the team’s other TD. He, too, joined the Bucs on a one-year contract after Brady reached out to the talented running back after he was released by the Jacksonvil­le Jaguars late in training camp.

If Brady, Arians and general manager Jason Licht have their way, Gronkowski, Brown and Fournette won’t wind up being one-season rentals.

The team is also interested in signing linebacker Shaquil Barrett and receiver Chris Godwin to long-term deals.

Defensive starters Lavonte David, Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh can become free agents, although there’s been no indication any is eager to leave.

“I’m very very confident,” Arians said Monday of keeping the bulk of the roster together for next season. “I have all the trust in the world in Jason and what he will do. There will be dollars involved, but I think this group is so so close that sometimes dollars don’t matter.”

The Bucs likely have about $38 million in salary cap space, though the 2021 cap number has not been set yet.

Arians also expressed the belief that the Bucs, who rode Brady and a dynamic young defense on an impressive playoff surge that culminated with Tampa Bay becoming the first team to appear in a Super Bowl in its own stadium, can be even better next year.

He and Brady reiterated how difficult it was to navigate this season, the quarterbac­k’s first in Tampa Bay after 20 years in New England, amid COVID-19 protocols that eliminated offseason workouts and preseason games.

“Hopefully we can keep the band together, have an offseason and actually know what we’re doing (entering 2021),” Arians said.

Brady, who won his fifth Super Bowl MVP award, was asked Sunday and again Monday where his first title with Tampa Bay ranks with the six he won with the Patriots. He said every season is different and poses different challenges, though he finally conceded there was something special about what the Bucs were able to accomplish playing through a pandemic.

“It’s great. That’s where I rank it. It’s been a great year, incredibly fun. I think in a unique way it was kind of like, with the coronaviru­s situation and all the protocols, it really was like football for junkies. There was not really a lot of other things to do other than show up to work and play football,” Brady said. “If you love football this was the year to be a player in the NFL because that’s all it was.”

Arians, 68, came out of retirement two years ago, inheriting a team that hadn’t made the playoffs in more than a decade. The Bucs went 7-9 in his first season, then hit the jackpot in free agency when Brady decided to leave New England.

Life hasn’t since.

“This was a very talented football team last year, but we really didn’t know how to win. And when you bring a winner in, and he’s running the ship, it makes a total difference in your locker room and every time we step on the field,” Arians said.

Brady said Arians, who also has two Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach, deserves credit, too.

“B.A. had confidence in us from the moment we got started. And even when we hit a rough patch, he never lost his poise, he never doubted what we could accomplish. He just kept believing we could do it,” the quarterbac­k said.

“When the coach believes it, the players believe it, too.” been the same

 ?? Steve Luciano, The Associated Press ?? Tampa Bay quarterbac­k Tom Brady (12), right, and tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) celebrate their Super Bowl win Sunday. Gronkowski is one of several Buccaneers who played on one-year deals.
Steve Luciano, The Associated Press Tampa Bay quarterbac­k Tom Brady (12), right, and tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) celebrate their Super Bowl win Sunday. Gronkowski is one of several Buccaneers who played on one-year deals.

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