For former Eagles coach Andy Reid on Super Bowl eve, another fatherhood heartache

On the eve of a career milestone for former Eagles coach Andy Reid — another Super Bowl appearance — his son and assistant coach Britt is in the headlines for a car accident that reportedly harmed two children, one possibly with life-threatening injuries.

A search warrant filed in connection with the multivehicle crash in Kansas City, Mo., late Thursday says Britt Reid told an officer at the scene he had had two or three drinks, according to the Associated Press, before his pickup truck struck a car that had run out of gas on an entrance ramp to I-435 and another car that had stopped to help.

The circumstances are tragically familiar to Eagles fans who followed a series of criminal and substance-abuse incidents involving Britt Reid and his brother Garrett over the 14 years their father coached in Philadelphia. The most heartbreaking was Garrett’s death at age 29 in 2012 of a heroin overdose in his dorm at Lehigh University during Eagles training camp.

Last February, when Andy Reid won his first Super Bowl as head coach, leading the Kansas City Chiefs past the San Francisco 49ers, he gathered with his wife, Tammy, and their four children in an embrace at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., to pay tribute to his late son.

As Andy Reid prepares to take the Chiefs into another Super Bowl on Sunday, this time against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team issued a statement Friday saying that it was still gathering information about the crash and that “our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved.”

It was in February 2007 when the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office filed gun and drug charges against Britt Reid, accusing the then-21-year-old of pointing a handgun at a motorist in what police had described as a road-rage incident in West Conshohocken on Jan. 30. In his SUV, police found a Remington shotgun and small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, and the prescription painkiller Oxycodone.

The same day as that incident, Garrett Reid, then 23, was involved in an accident in Plymouth Township after which he told police he had been using heroin. He was charged with 14 misdemeanor offenses including assault, drug possession, and driving under the influence of a controlled substance days after Andy Reid took a leave of absence as head coach of the Eagles to deal with his sons’ problems.

Both young men served jail sentences. In June 2009, Britt Reid completed a 15-month Montgomery County Drug Court program to the pride of his father, who called it a “big step” for his son.

At the time of Garrett’s death on Aug. 5, 2012, he had been working as a strength and conditioning assistant coach, and had been involved with the team since his 2009 release from prison.

Britt Reid is an assistant linebackers coach with the Chiefs. He will not join the team at the Super Bowl as a result of the accident Thursday night, ESPN and NFL.com reported.