Henry Ruggs is in hot water. Boiling hot water.
He faces felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol after speeding at 156 miles per hour, resulting in a fiery crash that left a woman, identified as Tina Tintor, and her dog dead and his female passenger injured, as reported by Las Vegas police and his attorney. He also faces charges of reckless driving, per court records.
Ruggs and his girlfriend, Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, were hospitalized with “serious” injuries that police said did not appear life-threatening as his Chevrolet Corvette he was driving slammed into the rear of Tintor’s Toyota RAV4 on a busy road in a residential area several miles to the west of the Las Vegas Strip at 3:39 AM on the night of November 2nd. However, Kilgo-Washington underwent surgery for a severe arm injury.
When the Corvette approached the intersection of Rainbow Boulevard and Spring Valley Parkway in the residential area, it veered into the right lane and slammed in the back of the RAV4, according to police reports.
Police said in a statement said that Ruggs “showed signs of impairment,” but they were prohibited by federal privacy law from disclosing medical information.
Ruggs’ attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, said they are investigating the crash on behalf of their client “and ask everyone to reserve judgment until all the facts are gathered.”
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the victim of this horrific tragedy,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. “We will continue to gather facts and monitor the matter under our policies, but our thoughts at this time are with those impacted by this devastating incident.”
In the wake of this, the Raiders released Ruggs, just hours after the crash and shortly after he was released from a hospital and booked into a Las Vegas jail.
In addition to driving 156 mph, Ruggs had a blood alcohol content twice Nevada’s legal limit before his car slammed into the rear of Tintor’s Toyota RAV4. He was only able to slow down the Corvette to 127 mph before his Corvette struck the RAV4, rolled over 500 feet, then the RAV4 went up in flames.
Ruggs was seated in a wheelchair with a foam brace on his neck and jail guards at his elbows during his initial court appearance on the Wednesday of November 3rd pending his felony charges.
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure said he was troubled by his initial review of the case against Ruggs, saying that he has never heard of a crash involving a vehicle traveling at that speed.
He also rejected prosecutor Eric Bauman’s request to set the bail at $1M and instead set the amount to $150k with strict conditions to include home confinement, electronic monitoring, no alcohol, no driving, and the surrender of his passport.
Chesnoff and Schonfeld argued that bail is by law meant to ensure their client returns to court, and not to punish him. Bonaventure, who, in January 2008, returned OJ Simpson to jail for violating terms of his pretrial release in an armed robbery case, warned Ruggs that if he did not comply to his restrictions, he will face re-arrest and a return to jail.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who said onside court that he believed that Ruggs suffered a leg injury, said that he intends to file a second felony DUI charge against Ruggs related to the injuries to Kilgo-Washington. Bonaventure noted that the two have a three-year-old daughter.
Prosecutors have also charged Ruggs with additional felony charges as well as a misdemeanor. The felonies are DUI and reckless driving because of the injuries suffered by Kilgo-Washington, and the misdemeanor is possession of a firearm while under the influence, because of his loaded gun found in his car at the scene.
Bauman added that Ruggs did not cooperate with police and medical workers, and his blood alcohol level taken within the required two hours after the crash was at 0.161. Ruggs refused to submit to sobriety tests at the crash site.
“This is particularly tragic,” the prosecutor told the judge. He added that NFLPA contracted with rideshare services to provide free transportation to members “specifically to prevent tragedies such as this” since 2013.
There was also a video posted on the night of Monday on Ruggs’ Snapchat account showing that he was at Topgolf, a sports entertainment venue in Las Vegas, and might have been at a friend’s home for some more hours before the crash.
Authorities did not say where he and his girlfriend were headed at the time of the crash, but according to county property records, they were a few miles away from the player’s $1.1M home when the crash occurred.
Probation is not an option in Nevada for convictions on charges of DUI causing death or DUI causing substantial bodily injury, but both carry a possible sentence of two to 20 years in state prison each. The possible sentence for reckless driving is between one and six years in prison, with probation available. With this, Ruggs could face a maximum of 46 years behind bars if convicted.
One witness told the police that people got out of a Dodge Durango SUV found parked behind the Corvette at the scene of the crash. Police and prosecutors did not say who was in the vehicle.
In separate statements released on November 2nd, the Raiders and the NFL extended their condolences to Tintor’s family. “We are in the process of gathering information and will have no further comment at this time,” the Raiders added, while the NFL said they “will continue to gather facts and monitor the matter” under its policies.
Michael Leone, a longtime resident of the neighborhood where the crash happened, was in bed when he heard a “loud boom.” Turning to his wife in bed, he instructed her, “Give me my phone. There’s an accident.”
He called 911, and while on the phone with a dispatcher, he went to his backyard wall, which has a view overseeing Rainbow Boulevard. Leone, who has lived at Willow Creek Avenue for more than 20 years, said that same wall had to be rebuilt multiple times because of other car crashes.
When he looked over the wall, he told 911 that a vehicle was engulfed in flames, and as the fire spread, he heard a “popping” noise that “sounded like gunshots.” He also heard loud music coming from Ruggs’ Corvette and a female voice screaming for help.
The usually busy Rainbow Boulevard was grimly quiet as Metro investigators worked, tracing the pavement with pink and green paint to mark where the cars collided, how far they traveled after the crash, and where each vehicle came to a stop. When they were working, the charred shell of the RAV4 laid there at the intersection while Ruggs’ damaged Corvette sat near Leone’s backyard wall.
Traffic in that intersection did not start back up again until 4 PM. When it did, nearby residents walked along the sidewalk, surveying a crash scene that stretched hundreds of feet. Around the crash site was smashed glass and car parts. A fire extinguisher used during the failed recovery efforts was also on the side of the road.
At sunset, two candles burned at the intersection. One was placed by Andrew Bennett, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Public Safety, who remarked that this crash was fatal and critical injury crashes were “almost a daily occurrence at this point.” This crash marked the 319th traffic fatality in Nevada on the year.
This crash came less than a year after Raiders running back Josh Jacobs crashed a sports car into a tunnel wall on a roadway at McCarran International Airport. Jacobs had several stitches for a cut forehead and was initially charged with driving under the influence, but the charge was dropped one week later because his BAC did not reach the 0.08% level needed to pursue the case. Notably, Chesnoff and Schonfeld represented Jacobs in this case, which was closed in March.
At the time of the car crash involving Ruggs and Tintor, the Raiders were on their bye week but reported to team headquarters on Monday before their off day on Tuesday. They were scheduled to begin practicing on that week’s Wednesday before they played the Giants, where they lost 23-16.
Rumors around the league say that Ruggs was possibly drag racing another car before the car crash, a surveillance video posted to TMZ showed that only one car was traveling at an extremely fast speed. While that possibility is not ruled out, the video shows that only one car sped through the video obtained by TMZ.
Before the car crash, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr received a text message with a video attached from Ruggs late on Monday.
“A golf swing,” said Carr on Wednesday of that week of the video that Ruggs sent to him. In the video, Ruggs asked, “‘How’s my swing look? You guys need to help me.’ Just seeing that and then getting the news when we woke up, how am I supposed to handle that? How am I supposed to react?”
The text came four hours before the car crash. Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia spoke at the podium and first read a prepared statement:
We want to express our sincere condolences to the victim’s family. A person lost their life yesterday morning, and we think it’s important to keep focus on that as we talk about this tragic event. We’re deeply saddened for everyone affected. Especially, the victim’s family. That being said, we love Henry Ruggs and want him to know that. It was a terrible lapse in judgment, of the most horrific kind. It’s something that he’ll have to live with the rest of his life. The gravity of the situation is not lost on anyone here and we understand and respect the loss of life.
The Raiders returned from their bye week with meetings and workouts on Monday, and Bisaccia said a “Unity Council Meeting” with 14 players, including the team captains, was held to remind them of their responsibilities. Bisaccia added that the team talked about preventing things before they happen.
While Tuesday of that week was supposed to be an off-day for the Raiders, with “so much information” regarding Ruggs’ crash and arrest, Bisaccia held a virtual team meeting at 4 PM PDT “so they could see our faces,” he said. “We wanted to give them the facts that we had at that particular time.”
When the Raiders received more information—Ruggs’ speed, BAC, and the nature of the crash—they released him. Another team meeting was held Wednesday morning to discuss the situation. Bisaccia added:
There’s two separate entities—there’s Henry Ruggs the football player, which is no longer part of the Raiders, and then Henry Ruggs the person, who is certainly going through what he’s going through and is going to have to pay the consequences for the actions. There’s no blueprint for this. There’s no handbook that they give you for the obstacles that … occur, whether you’re a parent, whether you’re a teacher, whether you’re, you know, my dad drove a truck. There’s no blueprint for these things, and I think we’ll all lean on one another. To be perfectly frank, I really don’t know if I can put into words the emotional feelings that … I went through. I just know for me, as a parent, and a person that cares about young people and deals with young people every day, I really don’t know if I could quantify what the emotions are.”
Ruggs’ college coach at Alabama, Nick Saban, had similar thoughts to the situation.
Our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to all involved in this tragic situation, especially the victims. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with them. But our thoughts and prayers are also with Henry, his family, and I think this is something that a lot of folks can learn from. I think a lot of players on our team, when we say challenge people to make good choices and decisions, do the right thing, because sometimes the consequences can be devastating, and these consequences are gonna probably be pretty devastating to Henry. We love him, we’re gonna support him through it. But we also have a lot of compassion for the victims, and our thoughts and prayers are also with them.
Bisaccia and Carr were the only Raiders to speak publicly on the Wednesday following the crash, and Carr also put Tintor’s family first. However, when speaking on a personal level, he was emotional when he walked by Ruggs’ locker:
For whatever reason, that got me. Like, like, he’s not going to be there. Not because he’s fast, not because of what he could do for me, but because of the person that he is and because I love him. This one hurts because, again, it really affects some families and it affected some lives. That hurts me, hurts my heart. Because I know there’s pain. I know there’s shame. I know that there’s anger, probably. All those feelings that no one wants to feel or have towards them, I know that it’s all there. That’s hard.
Ruggs was roommates with Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith in Alabama from 2017 to 2019. Smith said that the events involving Ruggs gave him a “bigger purpose” for the Eagles’ close loss against the Chargers, where he had five receptions for 116 yards and one touchdown.
“First off, my heart breaks for everybody that was involved, the family of the young lady that lost her life,” said Smith. “It was rough at the beginning [of the week], but just coming in every day, being with the guys, they kind of gathered with me, helped me out a lot.”
Ruggs and Smith challenged each other to get better on the field, and, according to Smith, served as confidantes for one another. Before the Week 7 match between the Eagles and Raiders, Smith revealed that he and Ruggs talk to each other daily as part of a group text for former Alabama receivers that also includes the Broncos’ Jerry Jeudy and the Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle. They also stayed close by playing NBA 2K together, just like they did in college. Smith also credited Ruggs for helping him with his transition to the NFL.
“It kind of gave me a bigger purpose,” said Smith, when asked how difficult it was to play during the Eagles’ game against the Chargers. “Just going out there, playing for my brother, knowing he can’t play right now.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts also played with Ruggs for two seasons.
“Obviously, I have a lot of love for DeVonta. I love him like a brother. I have a lot of love for Henry Ruggs as well. I love him like a brother,” said Hurts. “My ‘Bama brother. It’s tough for all of us to experience what we experienced this week, how tragic of a situation it was. But we’re all warriors and we all see it through.”
Smith added that he talked to Ruggs since the accident, that they “discussed everything” and described Ruggs as being “in good spirits.”
“I’m just glad that he’s himself, he’s gotten himself together and he’s not just down on himself,” added Smith.
Five days after the crash, the Raiders signed DeSean Jackson, who was cut by the Rams after the latter failed to find a trade partner for him. He told NFL reporter Josina Anderson before posting an airbrushed picture of himself in a white Raiders throwback jersey on his Instagram account. This fills in the hole left behind by cutting Ruggs for a big-play playmaker.
Tintor’s family started up a GoFundMe to help pay for the costs associated with her death. The initial goal of the fundraiser was $7,000, but they received over $94k in donations. Several people gave over $1k, and one even gave $5k.
“Our lives were changed forever when Tina passed away alongside Max on the morning of November 2, 2021,” wrote Tintor’s mom. “Those who knew Tina know that she was a beautiful loving soul that always put everyone before herself. From our hearts to yours, we thank you for thinking of Tina and Max, and we really appreciate your support.”
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