Crash victim alleges favoritism for Reid son
NO CHARGES WERE FILED AGAINST BRITT AFTER ACCIDENT THAT INJURED DRIVER IN '02
AS THE REID SAGA stretches into its fifth day, motorists who have become victims of Britt and Garrett Reid's errant driving have one thing on their mind: justice.
Three individuals have his or her own tale of scary roadway encounters and frustrations over the lack of legal consequences for Eagles coach Andy Reid's oldest sons.
Murray Nathanson, 60, was seriously injured five years ago when Britt Reid made a rookie driving error and totalled Nathanson's car in Ardmore.
Louise Hartman, 55, is facing a long road to recovery after Garrett Reid sped through a red light in Plymouth Township Tuesday afternoon and slammed Hartman's car. Reid, 23, confessed to being high on heroin at the time of the crash, according to court records.
And a 36-year-old carpenter is still rattled from Britt Reid, 21, who, according to court records, pointed a handgun at him and smiled after a driving dispute in West Conshohocken Tuesday morning.
In spite of Garrett Reid's confession and the laundry list of weapons, bullets and drug paraphernalia that cops recovered from both of the Reid brothers' cars, neither has been charged with committing a crime.
Law-enforcement sources explained yesterday that prosecutors are awaiting toxicology results on blood taken from Garrett Reid and lab tests that were done on what they suspect may have been drugs found in Britt Reid's SUV.
The sources said prosecutors will likely file a single criminal complaint that is likely to include multiple charges against both brothers.
The charges couldn't come soon enough for Nathanson, who believes favoritism has saved Andy Reid's sons so far from prosecution. After all, Nathanson says, he's seen it once before.
Nathanson was stopped at a red light in January 2002 when Britt Reid - then a rookie 16-year-old driver - drove out of an Ardmore pancake house and slammed Nathanson's car.
Nathanson was seriously injured, and his Pathfinder totalled. Reid, according to the police report then, was at fault.
But Reid wasn't charged in that wreck.
Nathanson, still embroiled in a lawsuit over the 2002 wreck, thinks it's about time justice caught up with Britt Reid.
"He wasn't charged [in the 2002 wreck], even though the accident report clearly indicated he was at fault," said Nathanson, a certified public accountant from Wynnewood.
"I don't have any animosity toward the kid, but in a perfect world, he would have been charged," Nathanson added. "I just feel that it should be a level playing field. And from what I've read [about this week's incidents], these kids are receiving preferential treatment."
Garrett Reid grabbed the headlines again on Tuesday, when he got into a road-rage incident with another motorist on Front Street near Matson Ford Road in West Conshohocken, police said.
The dispute, which police said involved one of the drivers' being in the wrong lane, ended when Reid allegedly pointed a platinum-colored handgun at the other driver, smiled and then sped off. The frightened driver jotted down Reid's license-plate number and called police.
Police nabbed Britt Reid when he arrived at the scene of a serious car accident his older brother Garrett had caused about five hours later in Plymouth Township.
In that case, Garrett Reid admitted to police that he had used heroin earlier that day, had been speeding, had not been paying attention to the road and had blown through a red light when his 2004 Jeep Liberty rammed a 1997 Ford Taurus being driven by Hartman, a Mount Carmel, Pa., resident.
Rescuers had to use a Jaws of Life device to pry Hartman from her car. She was airlifted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She was later released.
According to court records, Garrett Reid told police that he was "reaching over to grab something that fell" when he crashed into Hartman's car.
Moments before the 2:25 p.m. crash, police from East Norriton Township had started following Reid on Germantown Pike, where he was clocked driving 54 m.p.h. in a 35 m.p.h. speed zone, court records said.
When police patted Garrett Reid down at the crash scene, they recovered a knife, two uncapped hypodermic needles, cotton balls, adhesive tape, alcohol swabs and a spoon and scissors, according to court records.
Those records said Reid had trouble following simple directions and could not understand what was said to him. Later that day, Reid said he was unsure how fast he had been driving and had been unsure what color the light was when he hit Hartman's car, court records said. He also acknowledged being high on heroin.
Police later served search warrants and found illegal items in both men's cars.
In Garrett Reid's Jeep, they found a triple-beam scale commonly used in drug trafficking, a handgun and an ammunition container, court records said.
In Britt Reid's SUV, police recovered a Remington shotgun, several shotgun shells, a container of white powder, eight plastic bags stained with white residue and a bottle containing a green, leafy substance.
A 45-caliber handgun and several rounds of hollow-point bullets were recovered during a search of the Reids' Lower Merion Township home. Earlier this week, a law-enforcement source said that neither Andy Reid nor his sons have permits to carry firearms or have guns registered in their names. *
Staff writer Christine Olley contributed to this report.