Reid to take leave of absence

By John McMullen

Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid has taken a leave of absence from his duties as the team's head coach/executive vice president of football operations.

Reid is taking the time off to attend to personal matters involving his family. The leave of absence is expected to last until approximately mid-March. At that point, the Eagles expect Reid will return to his regular duties.

Reid has been dealing with the recent legal troubles involving his sons, Britt and Garrett.

Britt Reid was charged with several drug and weapon offenses on Tuesday, one week after getting into a confrontation with another motorist in analleged road-rage incident.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office released an affidavit of probable cause, saying a Remington shotgun, cocaine, marijuana, the prescription painkiller Oxycodone and other drug paraphernalia were recovered from the 21-year-old Reid's black GMC Denali, which was registered to his mother.

According to the report, Reid had a confrontation with a 911 caller, who identified himself as Larry Johnson. The caller told a dispatcher at 9:16 a.m. the other motorist was "a white kid trying to act like a gangster."

Johnson told an officer he was driving in West Conshohocken when a black SUV attempted to pass his vehicle. The two had a verbal confrontation, and the report says both vehicles stopped for a red light when the other motorist, Reid, got out and walked to Johnson's driver's door. After more verbal sparring, Reid walked back to his car, and the report says Johnson "watched as Reid reached behind the seat and took out a platinum colored pistol. He pointed the pistol at Johnson and laughed."

According to Johnson, when the light turned green, Reid drove off. Officers got hold of the license number of Reid's SUV and drove to the head coach's residence, about a mile from the scene. Tammy Reid, the wife of thehead coach, was contacted by phone by officer Z. Raymond Sokolowski, and said she was out of town, but would call her son.

Later in the same day, around 3:10 p.m., a detective notified WestConshohocken police that the suspect in the road rage incident was at the scene of a serious traffic accident in Plymouth Township. That accident involved 23-year-old Garrett Reid, who reportedly acknowledged using heroin.

It was at that moment that Britt Reid was interviewed by police andacknowledged he was involved in a verbal altercation. Britt Reid initially said the other driver pulled a gun on him, which led him to pull out a flashlight and say he had a gun too. However, later in the day, Britt Reid changed his story, but in both cases said he was only carrying a flashlight.

However, after a search warrant was established, the gun Reid allegedly showed was recovered in the basement of the coach's Villanova home.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, it was concluded Britt Reid did not have a license to carry a firearm at the time of the incident.