The Kansas City Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid, has said his “heart bleeds for everybody involved” after his son was involved in a car crash that left a child seriously injured in the run-up to the Super Bowl.
“My heart goes out to all those who were involved in the accident, in particular the family with the little girl who’s fighting for her life,” Reid told reporters after the Chiefs’ loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Sunday’s Super Bowl. “I can’t comment on it any more than what I am here. So the questions you have, I’m going to have to turn those down; but just from a human standpoint, my heart bleeds for everybody involved in that.”
Reid’s son Britt, who is also a linebackers coach for the Chiefs, was driving a pick-up truck that collided with two other vehicles on Thursday night in Kansas City. A five-year-old girl in one of the cars is in hospital in critical condition with brain injuries. A GoFundMe page has been set up to cover her medical bills. By Monday morning, the page had raised more than $300,000.
“No child deserves to go through this, nor should any mother have to see her child like this,” the GoFundMe page’s organiser, Tiffany Verhulst, wrote.
According to a police report, Britt Reid said he had two or three drinks on the evening of the accident. ESPN reported that police officers noticed “a moderate odour of alcoholic beverages” on Reid, who suffered non-life threatening injuries in the crash and did not travel to the Super Bowl.
Andy Reid said the crash had not affected the outcome of Sunday’s game. “We had put the game plan in the week before. The distraction wasn’t a distraction as far as the game plan goes. That was already in and how we were going to work with it and go forward.
“From a human standpoint, it’s a tough one. From a football standpoint, I don’t think that was a problem.”
The Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, also expressed concern for the injured girl. “It’s a very tragic situation,” he said after Sunday’s game. “And you know you want to keep that in the back of your mind, and you give prayers to the families that were involved, especially the child that was involved.”
One of Reid’s other sons, Garrett, died of an accidental heroin overdose in 2012.
