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BRITT REID IS JAILED

DECK XXX XXXX

THE EAGLET got his wings clipped yesterday.

Britt Reid, the 22-year-old son of Eagles coach Andy Reid, was handcuffed and tossed in jail after a judge revoked his bail.

At a court hearing in Montgomery County, a state prosecutor argued for the bail revocation, citing 33 pills found by police in Reid's pants pocket on Thursday. At least one of them was hydro-codone, a lab confirmed.

Hydrocodone, of the opiate drug family, is a highly addictive prescription painkiller marketed under the brand name Vicodin.

"Until he gets a handle on this addiction, he's not safe to himself and he's not safe to others if he's out driving around, and he's not able to control his drug addiction," state Deputy Attorney General E. Marc Costanzo said in a phone interview after the hearing.

Common Pleas Judge Steven T. O'Neill agreed Reid was a danger to the community and had violated conditions of his bail.

Before yesterday's arrest for bail violations, Reid was free on $100,000 bail while awaiting sentencing in a Jan. 30 road-rage incident in which he pointed a gun - for which he had no license - at another driver during an argument in West Conshohocken. Police later searched the SUV driven by Reid and found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine.

Under bail conditions, Reid agreed not to use any drugs or alcohol. And he was permitted to drive only back and forth between his Villanova home and Montgomery County Community College, where he was a student.

But on Thursday, Reid drove to a local Dick's Sporting Goods store. Plymouth Township police received a call at about 3:30 p.m. that Reid was "acting erratically" while at the store on Chemical Road near Gallagher, authorities said.

Police pulled Reid over before he could leave the store's parking lot in his pickup truck. By then, Reid's truck had already struck several shopping carts.

Police took Reid after he failed a sobriety test. He was released after providing blood work at a Norristown hospital.

Yesterday morning, Judge O'Neill ordered Reid to submit to "immediate drug and alcohol testing." Reid gave a urine sample at about 1:30 p.m., officials said.

Meanwhile, police searched Reid's pickup and found suspicious "items," which were sent to a lab for "expedited testing," according to Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.

"We found items that I consider to be of value," said Castor, who declined to elaborate, citing a sealed search warrant.

Reid has not been charged with any crime stemming from the police stop at Dick's Sporting Goods. Castor said he is waiting for lab results before making any decision. Those results are expected early next week, Castor said.

Castor said he would recuse himself, as he did in the road-rage case, and ask the state to handle the prosecution if Reid's lab tests come back positive for drugs or alcohol. Castor is running for county commissioner and his campaign treasurer, Ross Weiss, is part of Reid's defense team.

If results are positive, Reid could be charged with driving under the influence, a first-degree misdemeanor, Castor said.

The episode at Dick's came about a week after Reid pleaded guilty to simple assault, drug possession and a felony-gun charge related to the road-rage case.

Costanzo, the prosecutor in the road-rage case, said any new charges against Reid could have an impact on his sentencing, which is at least three to five weeks away.

"It's obviously relevant to whether or not he's continuing to engage in criminal activity, and it would also be relevant to any treatment issues," Costanzo said.

During his Aug. 13 guilty plea, Reid told the judge he had enrolled himself in outpatient drug treatment at Malvern Institute, a rehab and counseling facility.

For now, Reid is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Lower Providence Township. He will get credit for time served, Costanzo said.

Reid's attorneys, Ross Weiss and William J. Winning, did not return phone calls from the Daily News. *