KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More than 8,700 donors have now contributed $344,000 to the fund for 5-year-old Ariel, who was the girl identified as the child in critical condition following a crash that involved a Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach.
Tiffany Verhulst, the girl’s aunt, confirmed in a GoFundMe campaign that the child was the victim in the crash.
“A little after 9 p.m. Thursday night, her mother went to help her cousin, who ran out of gas near I-435 and Stadium Drive,” Verhulst said in the campaign. “While helping her cousin, a Ram pickup truck driven by the Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid crashed into the vehicles on the side of the road.”
Ariel, who recently turned 5, suffered “swelling in the brain and bleeding around her brain,” according to the GoFundMe.
"Her mother is a single mom of [three]," Verhulst said in the campaign. "She will be in the hospital for the foreseeable future. This is set up for the hospital bills and weeks of missed work she will have, anything to help her family who is suffering so much right now because one man chose to drink and drive. No child deserves to go through this, nor should any mother have to see her child like this."
Reid told officers at the scene that he had had two to three drinks and has an Adderall prescription, according to a search warrant application. He was not expected to be in Tampa when the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFL reporter Jason La Canfora said on Friday.
A Kansas City, Missouri, police spokesperson said Saturday afternoon the girl remained in critical condition.
This article was written by Kari Williams for KSHB.