Associated Press - 08/31/07 

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid was charged Wednesday with driving under the influence and drug violations while still awaiting sentencing for a separate road-rage incident earlier this year.

Britt Reid, 22, of Villanova, was jailed last week for violating bail terms after police found 30½ pills, including the painkiller hydrocodone, amphetamines and antidepressants, during a traffic stop in Plymouth Township.

Charges from that stop were announced Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, Reid pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges stemming from a January encounter in which police say he brandished a gun at another driver. While out on bail, he was required to remain drug-free and drive only to his community college classes.

In the latest incident, Reid was charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, three drug violations and careless driving, authorities said.

Police, alerted by a suspicious store clerk, approached Reid's car in a mall parking lot last week. Plymouth Township officers activated their lights and then watched Reid's car hit a shopping cart. The officers pulled Reid over and administered a field sobriety test, which he failed.

Investigators said they also found a pill crusher and a $10 bill with white residue that they believe may have been used to snort drugs.

Reid, wearing a black pinstripe suit, a red striped tie and handcuffs, was arraigned on the new charges Wednesday by Conshohocken District Judge Francis J. Bernhardt III, who set bail at $5,000.

Ross Weiss, Reid's attorney, declined to comment on the accusations. He said he knew of no plans to post bail, meaning Reid would remain jailed.

Britt Reid's older brother, 24-year-old Garrett, also is facing jail time for drug and traffic charges. Garrett Reid admitted using heroin the day he ran a red light and hit another car — the same day Britt Reid was arrested in the road-rage case. He faces a mandatory minimum of three days in jail.

Andy Reid has refused to discuss his sons' legal problems. In February, the coach took a five-week leave from the team to deal with the family problems.

Authorities had previously said they found 33 pills in Reid's car last week.

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]

Britt Reid, son of Eagles coach, waives hearing on drug, DUI charges

Associated Press - Sept. 10, 2007

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The 22-year-old son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid waived a preliminary hearing Monday on DUI and drug charges in connection with a traffic stop last month.

Britt Reid waived the hearing before a district judge in suburban Philadelphia, according to Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, which is prosecuting the case because of a potential conflict of interest involving the county prosecutor's office.

Britt Reid appeared at the hearing by video from the county jail, where he has been held since his bail was revoked last month.

Plymouth Township police, alerted by a suspicious store clerk, approached Britt Reid's car in a mall parking lot on Aug. 23. The officers activated their lights and then saw Reid hit a shopping cart; they pulled him over and administered a field sobriety test, which he failed, police said.

Investigators said they found 30 1/2 pills on him and more than 200 additional pills in the vehicle, including the painkiller hydrocodone, amphetamines and antidepressants, as well as drug paraphernalia. Britt Reid is charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, three drug violations and careless driving, authorities said.

A message left for his attorney was not immediately returned Monday.

Earlier last month, Britt Reid pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges stemming from a January incident in which police say he brandished a gun at another driver. While out on bail, he was required to remain drug-free and drive only to his community college classes.

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]

Andy Reid - son Garrett taken into custody after failed test 

Oct. 30, 2007

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The oldest son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid was taken into custody again Tuesday after failing a drug test, prosecutors said. 

Garrett Reid was handcuffed and taken to the Montgomery County Prison on Tuesday after surrendering at a probation office. He declined to comment as he entered the office. 

The 24-year-old didn't show up for a scheduled test Oct. 15, according to prosecutors and his attorney, Ross Weiss. He is required to submit to random tests while awaiting sentencing on drug charges. 

Reid has acknowledged he had used heroin when he ran a red light and hit another car in January. He and his younger brother Britt are to be sentenced Thursday in separate cases. 

The 22-year-old Britt Reid, is already in jail in an unrelated case after violating his bail conditions. 

He was charged in August with driving under the influence and drug violations. Police said they pulled over Britt Reid for suspicion of drunken driving and found painkillers, amphetamines and antidepressants when they searched him and his vehicle. 

At the time, he was awaiting sentencing for a road-rage incident that happened the same day as his older brother's crash in January. 

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]

Judge: Reid sons battle drug addiction, identity crisis 

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer
November 3, 2007

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- As he reached adulthood, the oldest son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid searched for his own identity and found it on the bleak streets of North Philadelphia. 

Garrett Reid "got a thrill" out of being a drug dealer in the 'hood, just a few miles from his parents' suburban Villanova mansion. 

"I liked being the rich kid in that area and having my own high-status life," Reid told a probation officer, according to court testimony this week. "I could go anywhere in the 'hood. They all knew who I was. I enjoyed it. I liked being a drug dealer." 

The 24-year-old Garrett Reid and his 22-year-old brother Britt both face a treacherous future as they battle severe drug addiction and complete jail terms stemming from Britt's road-rage case and Garrett's heroin-fueled, high-speed crash. 

Perhaps toughest of all will be trying to forge a sense of identity.

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]

Their back-to-back sentencing hearings Thursday offered a glimpse into the lives of brothers who came of age on the NFL sidelines in the shadow of their famous father, whose every move was scrutinized as he transformed the Eagles into one of the league's elite teams with trips to five NFC championship games and a Super Bowl. 

"I don't want to die doing drugs," Garrett Reid told the judge Thursday, his stone-faced parents listening from the front row. 

"I don't want to be that kid who was the son of the head coach of the Eagles, who was spoiled and on drugs and OD'd and just faded into oblivion." 

The county judge who sentenced the pair offered hope but called their prognosis "guarded." 

Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill reviewed files submitted by therapists, doctors, probation officers, police and lawyers before sentencing each brother to up to 23 months in jail. 

O'Neill told Britt Reid it will take extensive treatment to "find out who you are, and not be defined by your parents, your family and others." 

The slender young man, who sports a choppy red goatee, voiced modest but so-far elusive goals of finishing college, settling on a career and living "a normal life." 

The second of the Reids' five children, Britt became hooked on several painkillers after a football injury at age 14. By his own admission Thursday, they have ruled his life ever since. 

He also has taken steroids -- the judge noted he's shrunk to 185 from his football playing weight of 250 -- and a plethora of prescription drugs. 

Doctors at a Florida detox center, which Britt Reid entered after his arrest for pulling a gun on a motorist in January, prescribed sedatives, a mood-disorder drug and an anti-opiate, O'Neill said. 

In August, when Britt Reid was out on bail on the road-rage charge, employees at a Dick's Sporting Goods store called police to report a man wandering around the store for two hours, then stumbling out to look for his vehicle. Police found more than 30 pills in Britt Reid's pocket and another 237 more in his pickup. 

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]

The Florida stint was at least his second rehab attempt. In 2004, Britt Reid completed a court program in Arizona that followed an arrest for marijuana possession. Just months later, he was re-arrested for driving while intoxicated. 

Garrett Reid, unlike his brother, said he never touched drugs until after graduating high school. He said he started using marijuana and alcohol at 18, began selling drugs the next year, and undertook the first of at least five rehab stints at 20. 

Andy Reid appeared relieved at times during Thursday's daylong hearing, grateful perhaps that O'Neill held out the prospect of early release if his sons enter a drug-court program. 

But the coach grew red-faced as O'Neill sharply questioned the oversight he and his wife, Tammy, provided. 

Police investigating the brothers' cases found an astonishing array of prescribed and illegal drugs in the family vehicles: heroin, testosterone, cocaine, painkiller OxyContin, marijuana, needles, pills, even a drug scale. 

They also found guns and high-powered ammunition in the home and vehicles. 

Thursday night, police searched the Reid home, trying to identify 89 pills found that morning in Garrett Reid's jail cell. The coach's wife, Tammy Reid, provided investigators with prescriptions in Garrett Reid's name, and a search of his room turned up other prescriptions in his brother's name. Police also found two syringes and eight needles in his room, according to prosecutors. 

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]

Still, O'Neill acknowledged the Reids' enduring efforts to get their sons clean. 

"You have a system around you taking care of you ... maybe enabling you," he told Garrett Reid. 

Coach Reid offered the first real glimpse into the family's struggles at a team press conference Friday. 

"This has been a battle we have dealt with here for a few years," Reid said. "Our prayers are obviously with the boys, for their future." 

According to arrest papers filed Friday over the jail contraband, Garrett Reid told a cellmate he smuggled the pills into prison because he "didn't want to go through what (he) did last time," apparently referring to drug withdrawal after his prior arrest. 

The new charges could jeopardize his chances of applying to the drug-court program. 

Britt Reid, who was jailed until sentencing after an August re-arrest, has been weaned of some of his prescriptions, his lawyer said. 

"I feel a lot more clear now that I'm not on all those medications," Britt Reid said in court. 

Yet O'Neill questioned whether he had the maturity and desire to survive the rigorous 15- to 24-month drug-court program. Participants attend weekly court sessions with other addicts -- and have no parents or lawyers to lean on. 

"I'm totally willing to go along with that," Britt Reid said. 

His brother, facing few good alternatives, agreed. 

"If that's what it's going to take to get clean and sober," Garrett Reid said, "I want to do it."

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]

Britt Reid pleads guilty to DUI

01/17/08

Britt Reid, the son of Eagles coach Andy Reid, pleaded guilty today to driving under the influence of a controlled substance in connection with an incident in a Plymouth Township parking lot last summer.

Sentencing will be at a later date.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of controlled substance.

The charges stem from an incident last August when witnesses at a Plymouth Township sporting goods store reported that Reid appeared under the influence and confused when looking for his truck in the parking lot. When he did find it, Reid drove into a shopping cart.

His arrest in that incident came while he was out on bail from an earlier road rage case.

Reid has been sentenced to eight to 23 months in jail for that incident; he pleaded guilty to flashing a gun at another motorist. 

His older brother, Garrett Reid, 24, was also sentenced in November for drug and traffic charges for a separate incident.

[ Open Letter to Coach Andy Reid ]