‘Ariel wake up honey. Wake up’: Voicemail captures moments after Britt Reid crash
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The Britt Reid crash
On Feb. 4, Britt Reid, a former Kansas City Chiefs linebackers coach, struck two cars along an entrance ramp to Interstate 435 near the team’s practice facility. The crash injured two children, including 5-year-old Ariel Young, who suffered a traumatic brain injury. According to court documents, Reid allegedly admitted to police at the scene that he had been drinking. He faces a felony charge of driving while intoxicated. Reid’s trial is set to begin April 18.
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The moments after the Feb. 4 crash involving former Chiefs coach Britt Reid — which injured two children, leaving one hospitalized in critical condition — were traumatic and chaotic, audio the family’s lawyer provided to The Star details.
Tom Porto, the attorney for the family of 5-year-old Ariel Young, told “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that the young girl was still in the hospital with a brain injury and unable to speak.
“This wasn’t a fender bender,” he said. “This was a serious life-altering event.”
Porto provided photos of the vehicles involved in the crash, showing the extent of the damage that was done. He also shared with The Star audio of a voicemail from a call he said the young girl’s mother had placed right before the crash. The voicemail kicked in right after the impact.
In the audio provided by Porto one of the children can be heard crying and exclaiming “Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!” repeatedly.
The 19-year-old driver who the family had gone to help also can be heard frantically checking on those in the vehicle.
“Where’s Ariel?” he asks. His focus then switches to another passenger, as he pleads with her to wake up.
It’s when someone asks about Ariel that he returns his concerns back to the girl.
“Ariel! Ariel!” he screamed.
Another woman can be heard on the recording asking: “Where’s Ariel? Where the (expletive) is Ariel? Ariel wake up honey. Wake up.”
According to a GoFundMe set up by the girl’s family, she had swelling and bleeding in and around her brain, leaving her hospitalized in critical condition. Family reported that on Feb. 16, after 11 days in a coma, she had woken up.
“I wish I could come bearing good news about this horrible situation,” Porto said in a statement provided to The Star following the “GMA” interview. “Unfortunately, I cannot. Baby Ariel is awake but that’s it. She is not talking or walking and will likely have permanent brain damage. It’s just a sad sad story.”
The crash happened three days before the Super Bowl, and involved Reid, the Chiefs’ former linebackers coach and son of head coach Andy Reid, who hit two cars on the side of an entrance ramp along Interstate 435, near the team’s practice facility. Reid admitted to drinking before the crash, according to court documents.
“When you look at those pictures, you wonder how anybody made it out of that car alive,” Porto said.
Porto said he and the family will advocate for “the most serious charges and the most serious sentence that Britt could ever receive.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 2:49 PM.
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