(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon for a drunk driving crash that injured five people, including one child severely.
Reid, 37, pleaded guilty in September to driving while intoxicated in connection with the Kansas City crash.
Reid was driving his pickup truck near Arrowhead Stadium on Feb. 4, 2021, when he struck two vehicles that had stopped along the side of the highway. He had a blood alcohol content of 0.113 and was driving 84 mph in a 65 mph zone at the time of the incident, according to court documents.
Ariel Young, who was 5 years old at the time, was severely injured in the crash. She suffered “life-threatening injuries” and a “severe traumatic brain injury, a parietal fracture, brain contusions and subdural hematomas,” according to court documents.
Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, faces up to four years in prison as part of a deal that his victims have spoken out against. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. local time in a Kansas City courthouse.
Prior to taking the guilty plea, Reid faced up to seven years in prison, with a trial expected to begin in September.
During a plea hearing on Sept. 12, Reid apologized for his “huge mistake.”
“I really regret what I did,” he said, according to Kansas City ABC affiliate KMBC.
At one point he turned to Ariel’s family and said, “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone that night,” KMBC reported.
When the judge asked the family if they had anything to say, KMBC reported that Ariel’s mother, Felicia Miller, said, “My family and I are opposed to the plea deal. I don’t think he should receive it.”
Tom Porto, the attorney for the five victims in the crash, said in a statement at the time that the victims are “outraged the prosecuting attorney is not seeking the maximum sentence allowable by law.”
Reid was a linebackers coach for the Chiefs at the time of the crash and during the team’s Super Bowl win in February 2020. He was released by the team shortly after the incident.
In November 2021, the Chiefs and Porto announced that the team worked out a plan to help pay for Ariel’s medical care.
Reid has previously served prison time over a driving-related incident.
He pleaded guilty to simple assault and flashing a gun at another driver in a road rage incident in 2007, according to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, court records, and served prison time. While in prison, he also pleaded guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of a controlled substance from a separate incident, according to court documents.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Cherelle Griner, the wife of Brittney Griner, spoke out on The View following a Russian court denying the WNBA star’s appeal on drug charges.
Griner told the co-hosts that the denied appeal was “just disheartening” and left her in “complete disbelief.”
“I understand being in the field of law that every state, every country has their own rules, but this is just absurd,” she said. “The crime and the punishment is disproportionate at its finest … There are people convicted of murder in Russia who [have] a sentence way less than B.G., and it just makes absolutely no sense to me.”
“That was the complete end of it. There’s nothing more to expect from a legal standpoint and all eggs are in basket, you know, for our government and for America to see how important this issue is,” she continued. “This could happen to anybody and we should be praying that we have a country that recognizes the importance of that and are willing to actually go get our Americans and bring them back home.”
Brittney is a two-time Olympic gold medalist that plays professional basketball for Phoenix Mercury, but flew out to Russia during the WNBA’s off-season to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg. On Feb. 17, she was accused of having vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia, and detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Khimki.
On April 29, the U.S. State Department officially classified Brittney’s case as a wrongful detention. After nearly five months of being detained in Russia, Brittney pleaded guilty on drug charges and said in her testimony that she had no “intention” of breaking the law.
On Aug. 4, Brittney was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. The judge of a Moscow-area court found that Griner had criminal intent and said she was guilty of smuggling and storing illegal drugs.
When asked about her thoughts on whether Brittney’s sentence was politically motivated, Griner told The View that “there’s no other way for me to see it except the fact that this is political.”
Griner noted that Brittney is an international basketball player that’s won championships, played undefeated seasons and was awarded MVP of WNBA All-Star Weekend.
“To see that the totality of the circumstances of who she is as a person was not taken into account when they rendered a decision, it makes me feel like this – at this point – has to be political,” Griner said.
“It’s not her footprint. Her footprint is amazing for Russia. She’s paying taxes there,” Griner continued. “She’s great for Russia.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin, who’s on the WNBA Board of Advocates, pointed out the pay inequity to the league compared to the NBA, saying the reason for Brittney’s travels to Russia was so she could supplement her salary.
“I’m grateful that my wife was willing to go overseas and make sure that I could go to law school and that we could have a home and things like that,” Griner told Hostin. She still encourages players to go overseas to play in the off-season if needed, but to “pay attention to the geo political nature of where you’re going, because B.G. left, and by the time she landed there was an e-mail from the WNBA that was saying if you’re going to Russia we recommend you not go and if you’re already there we recommend you come home, but it was too late.”
Last week, Brittney appeared virtually for an appeal hearing and urged the court to reassess her sentence and apologized for her “mistake.”
“I beg that the court takes in all of the stakes that was overlooked in the first court and reassess my sentence here,” Brittney said, adding that it has been “traumatic” to be away from her family.
Brittney is expected to serve out the entirety of her sentence in a penal colony labor camp, which are known for their harsh conditions. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said that her situation is “only made worse” by the country’s history of homophobic persecution.
Griner said that it’s impossible not to love Brittney once you meet her, but she still prays that wherever she ultimately ends up serving out her sentence, “her personality can do her a little bit of favor in keeping her safe.” Still, “the fear is the fact that there’s so much discretion here.”
“There is no one way they have to do anything there, and that is very [sic] tetrifying to know they can wake up one day and say yes to something, and wake up one day and say no,” she continued. “That’s not a safe place to be.”
Since Brittney’s detainment in February, Griner has been working to bring awareness to her case through her initiative “We Are BG,” which is committed to bringing all wrongfully detained Americans home. She also met with President Joe Biden on Sept. 16.
Biden “appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Brittney and Paul from those who love them most, and acknowledged that every minute they are being held is a minute too long,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her readout of the meeting. “The President held the meetings to reiterate his continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely. He asked after the wellbeing of Elizabeth and Cherelle and their respective families during this painful time.”
“We all admire the courage of the Whelan and Griner families in the face of these unimaginable circumstances, and we remain committed to reuniting them with their loved ones,” she continued.
In July, the Biden administration said it had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia to have Brittney and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan returned to the U.S. without success.
Prior to Brittney’s denied appeal, her attorney Alexandr Boikov told ABC News, “Her being afraid of not being released is mostly connected to the negotiations, which we are not aware of at all.”
Griner also had the opportunity to speak with Brittney a week before her the appeal hearing. “Her mental it’s not there, and she told me, ‘I’m really just trying to hold on to the last bit of you that I can remember.'”
“We spoke only three times so far out of the eight months that [Brittney’s] been sentenced,” Griner said. She went on to tell co-host Whoopi Goldberg that she’s been in contact with the U.S. State Department since Brittney was first detained, but much of what goes on behind the scenes is considered classified information. “For the most part they try kind of keep updated as possible on what’s happening with the negotiations”
For those feeling helpless thinking of the situation Brittney is in, Griner said, “words make a big difference,” so she’s set up a letter writing campaign through “We Are BG” to remind her that she’s “important” and “impossible to forget.”
“Be her strength for her right now, because she doesn’t have it,” Griner said of her wife.
(NEW YORK) — Several fans clad in “Fight Antisemitism” shirts were seen sitting courtside at Monday night’s basketball game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Indiana Pacers in New York City.
Last Thursday, Nets guard Kyrie Irving took to Twitter to post a link to the 2018 film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America on Amazon Prime Video. The synopsis states that the movie, which is based on a 2015 book of the same name, “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel.”
Irving initially defended his right to share the link before deleting his tweet, amid a wave of backlash.
“I’m not going to stand down on anything I believe in,” Irving said during Saturday’s postgame press conference “I’m only going to get stronger because I’m not alone. I have a whole army around me.”
He noted that he is “not a divisive person when it comes to religion” and embraces “all walks of life.”
“Did I do anything illegal? Did I hurt anybody?” he added. “Did I harm anybody? Am I going out and saying that I hate one specific group of people?”
However, Nets owner Joe Tsai said he was “disappointed” by Kyrie’s tweet and that it “is hurtful to all of us.”
“I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion,” Tsai tweeted on Saturday. “This is bigger than basketball.”
The NBA also criticized Kyrie’s tweet in a statement on Saturday.
“Hate speech of any kind is unacceptable and runs counter to the NBA’s values of equality, inclusion and respect,” the professional basketball league said. “We believe we all have a role to play in ensuring such words or ideas, including antisemitic ones, are challenged and refuted and we will continue working with all members of the NBA community to ensure that everyone understands the impact of their words and actions.”
The Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based Jewish civil rights organization, subsequently applauded the NBA and the Nets via Twitter “for responding quickly to condemn the promotion of #antisemitic hate speech.”
It’s not the first time Irving has stirred controversy for his beliefs. In recent years, he has publicly stated that the Earth is flat, promoted ideas from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and refused New York City’s mandate to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the latter of which cost him a four-year contract extension with the Nets.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Houston at Philadelphia (Postponed)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Philadelphia 118, Washington 111
Sacramento 115, Charlotte 108
Toronto 139, Atlanta 109
Brooklyn 116, Indiana 109
Milwaukee 110, Detroit 108
Utah 121, Memphis 105
LA Clippers 95, Houston 93
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Buffalo 8, Detroit 3
Carolina 3, Washington 2 (SO)
Los Angeles 5, St. Louis 1
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Cleveland 32, Cincinnati 13
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
New Orleans 112, L.A. Clippers 91
Boston 112, Washington 94
Cleveland 121, New York 108
Detroit 128, Golden State 114
San Antonio 107, Minnesota 98
Dallas 114, Orlando 105
Phoenix 124, Houston 109
LA Lakers 121, Denver 110
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
New Jersey 7, Columbus 1
Minnesota 4, Chicago 3 (SO)
NY Rangers 3, Arizona 2
Vegas 2, Winnipeg 1 (OT)
Anaheim 4, Toronto 3 (OT)
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Denver 21, Jacksonville 17
Atlanta 37, Carolina 34 (OT)
Dallas 49, Chicago 29
Miami 31, Detroit 27
Minnesota 34, Arizona 26
New England 22, NY Jets 17
New Orleans 24, Las Vegas 0
Philadelphia 35, Pittsburgh 13
Tennessee 17, Houston 10
San Francisco 31, L.A. Rams 14
Seattle 27, NY Giants 13
Washington 17, Indianapolis 16
Buffalo 27, Green Bay 17
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Los Angeles FC 3, Austin FC 0
Philadelphia 3, New York City FC 1
(NEW YORK) — Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen have divorced after 13 years of marriage.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and the Brazilian supermodel, who married in 2009, confirmed their split on social media.
Brady shared the news in an Instagram Stories post, writing that he and Bundchen “finalized” their divorce “in recent days” after having “arrived at this decision amicably and with gratitude for the time we spent together.”
This news comes after much speculation on the status of their relationship. Tabloid reports have hinted at alleged contention between the two due to Brady’s decision to return to football after a brief 40-day retirement earlier this year.
Bündchen shared her perspective on Brady’s return to the game in an interview with Elle, published in September.
“Obviously, I have my concerns — this is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present,” she told Elle. “I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I feel that everybody has to make a decision that works for [them]. He needs to follow his joy, too.”
She also hit back at what she felt was a false media narrative regarding her desire for him to leave football.
“I think this is the system we’ve been living in,” she told the outlet. “That’s what society has accepted and what society hasn’t accepted.”
The supermodel tweeted her support for Brady before his game on Sept. 11, writing “Let’s go @TomBrady ! Let’s go Bucs ! ✨✨✨”
The couple shared several loving posts for one another throughout 2022. They also celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary in February, with Brady describing Bündchen in a post as the “best mother and wife and supporter in the world.”
Brady and Bündchen share two children together, 12-year-old Benjamin and 9-year-old Vivian. Brady also has a 15-year-old son, Jack, from his previous relationship with Bridget Moynahan.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:’
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Dallas 129, Brooklyn 125 (OT)
Oklahoma City 118, LA Clippers 110
Memphis 116, Sacramento 99
Golden State 113, Miami 105
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Philadelphia 4, Florida 3
Minnesota 4, Ottawa 2
Boston 5, Detroit 1
Montreal 3, Buffalo 2
Nashville 6, St. Louis 2
Edmonton 6, Chicago 5
Dallas 2, Washington 0
Vancouver 4, Seattle 3
San Jose 4, Toronto 3 (OT)
Winnipeg 6, LA Kings 4
(NEW YORK) — The World Anti-Doping Agency has sent a warning to Russia to resolve the ongoing doping case for teenage ice skating phenomenon Kamila Valieva, who tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Valieva, a former junior world champion and a top contender for a gold medal for the winter games in Beijing, was found to have tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication, in a sample taken on Dec. 25. The sample was taken by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, known as RUSADA.
Witold Banka, the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, tweeted on Thursday morning that the agency is “concerned” about the ongoing delay in the outcome of Valieva’s case and that RUSADA has been placed under formal notice that the matter will be taken to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport unless the matter is resolved promptly.
RUSADA said in a statement Friday it will not be releasing any information regarding the processes and procedures related to the investigation, including the charge and the final resolution of the matter, due to the “confidential” nature of the information.
The statement did not name Valieva but referred to a figure skater “who is a protected person.” Valieva was under the age of 16 at the time she took the test, which would have given her protected status under Russia’s under anti-doping rules.
“RUSADA does not intend to announce the date of the hearings, the decision or other details in the case of the figure skater-a member of the ROC team,” the statement read.
Last month, RUSADA told Russian News Agency TASS that the investigation had concluded and preparations were underway for a hearing.
Valieva, who was 15 at the time, won gold in the team ice skating competition before finding out that she tested positive for the banned substance before the Olympics began.
After an accredited lab for the World Anti-Doping Agency notified RUSADA of the positive test on Feb. 8, Valieva was provisionally suspended from competition. She was later cleared on Feb. 14 to continue competing by the the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled that denying Valieva the opportunity would “would cause her irreparable harm.”
A medal ceremony was not held for the team event due to the uncertainty surrounding Valieva’s eligibility to compete. The international skaters waiting on the verdict include those on the American, Japanese and Canadian, which came in second, third and fourth place, respectively.
On Feb. 15, Valieva, finished first in the short program with a score of 82.16, topping her Russian teammate, Anna Shcherbakova, by just shy of 2 points. During the women’s single skating free skate program on Feb. 17, Valieva finished in fourth place after falling multiple times.
The minimum age for skaters at the Olympics has since been raised to 17 by the International Skating Union. The new rule will be in affect for the next Winter Olympics in 2026 in Milan.
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab and Alexandra Faul contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Atlanta 118, Detroit 113
Cleveland 103, Orlando 92
Toronto 119, Philadelphia 109
Milwaukee 110, Brooklyn 99
Minnesota 134, San Antonio 122
New York 134 Charlotte 131 (OT)
Chicago 124, Indiana 109
Utah 109, Houston 101
Denver 110, LA Lakers 99
Miami 119, Portland 98
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
NY Islanders 3, NY Rangers 0
Edmonton 3, St. Louis 1
Tampa Bay 4, Anaheim 2
(NEW YORK) — A public high school football coach in Washington state who famously lost his job for leading prayers on the field after games will be reinstated by the spring of next year, court documents show.
A joint stipulation filed in Washington state district court on Tuesday by attorneys representing Joseph Kennedy and lawyers for Bremerton School District stated that “Kennedy is to be reinstated to his previous position as assistant coach of the Bremerton High School football team on or before March 15, 2023.”
The United States Supreme Court sided with Kennedy in June, when justices ruled 6-3 that the coach was protected by the Constitution when he knelt and prayed aloud at the 50-yard-line post-game, sometimes with his players.
For years, lower courts had repeatedly sided with Bremerton School District in the case. The Supreme Court reversal in favor of Kennedy could soon expand the ability of government employees nationwide to practice their faiths more openly while on the job, according to legal experts.
“This is a right for everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re this religion or that religion or have no faith whatsoever,” Kennedy told ABC News during an interview earlier this year. “Everybody has the same rights in America.”
The First Amendment protects free speech and free exercise of religion, but it also prohibits the establishment of religion by the government. Prior to the ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court had long said that public school-sponsored prayer violates the Establishment Clause, even if the prayer is voluntary.
Kennedy and his attorneys at First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based Christian legal group, filed suit against the Bremerton School District after he was suspended seven years ago over the midfield prayers and his contract was not renewed. He insisted the prayers were brief, private individual acts of faith, while the school district argued that student participation breached constitutional prohibitions against the promotion of religion by government officials.
Kennedy had routinely prayed on the field after games for more than seven years, attracting varying levels of participation from students. He said the ritual typically lasted less than a minute.
“It was my covenant between me and God that after every game, win or lose, I’m going to do it right there on the field of battle,” he told ABC News.
It wasn’t until 2015 that the school district informed the coach of constitutional concerns. In a statement released at the time, the school district said Kennedy’s prayers violated “constitutionally-required directives that he refrain from engaging in overt, public religious displays on the football field while on duty.”
The school district said it “has a fundamental obligation to protect the rights of all of its students,” though the statement noted that no players had complained about the prayer sessions.
“It is very likely that over the years, players have joined in these activities,” the school district added, “because to do otherwise would mean potentially alienating themselves from their team, and possibly their coaches.”
