Cops Say Raiders’ Henry Ruggs Screamed at Them After Deadly Drunken Crash
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Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was incoherent and combative after the high-speed DUI crash that killed a young woman—trying to pull out his IVs at the hospital and screaming at cops, according to a police report.
“Get me the **** out of here,” Ruggs, 22, yelled while being treated at University Medical Center, saying the report obtained by Las Vegas TV station KLAS.
Prosecutors revealed in court Wednesday that Ruggs had a blood alcohol level of .161—twice the legal limit—and was traveling at 156 miles per hour in a Corvette Stingray when he slammed into the rear of a Toyota RAV4 after partying at a swank golf venue.
“I cannot recall a speed that high in my career on the bench,” said Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure, who set bail at $150,000 even though prosecutors asked for $1 million.
Henry Ruggs III makes a catch during a game against the Baltimore Ravens in September.
The RAV4 was hurled 570 feet down Rainbow Boulevard. Tina Tintor, 23, and her dog, Maxi, were killed—despite the efforts of good Samaritans to free them.
“I thought for sure we were going to be able to do something. The fire was so small at the time,” Tony Rodriguez told KTNV. “It just grew fast. Really fast. There was one person with a fire extinguisher, a county worker. That didn’t work. It wasn’t enough. It was just so fast."
He said Tintor was not killed instantly.
“She was actually still alive. You could hear her breathing. She had her seat belt on and I was trying to cut that away. Trying to grab them by their shoulders and pull them out but that wasn’t working,” Rodriguez said. “They were pinned. The seat belt was on, the airbags were in the way, and the door was jammed.”
Ruggs and his girlfriend, Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, were taken to the hospital, where the athlete refused a blood-alcohol test; a judge later signed a warrant for it.
A responding officer said Ruggs’ speech was slurred and he was uncooperative.
“As medical staff advised Ruggs to stop removing the medical equipment, Ruggs began to yell, ‘Get me the **** out of here,’” the report said.
“Ruggs continued to yell from his bed and refused to listen to hospital staff and yelled they were not doing anything for him.”
Ruggs warms up before a game against the Indianapolis Colts last year.
The player—who was released by the Raiders after he was charged with two felonies for the fatal crash—said only that he was on his way home when he hit Tintor’s car.
“As I spoke with Ruggs I asked if he would open his eyes,” the officer wrote. “At that time, Ruggs refused to answer any questions nor cooperate by opening his eyes.”
Kilgo-Washington, however, allegedly told police that the couple had been at TopGolf—which has 120 driving ranges and five bars at the MGM Grand—and had been drinking.
Ruggs’ lawyers have asked the public to “to reserve judgment until all the facts are gathered.”
Tintor’s family has not publicly commented, but a friend told KVVU that she was a Serbian immigrant who was about to get her U.S. citizenship and planned to study computer programming.
“I love you very much. I wish I got to say goodbye, and I’ll see you in the next life,” Bojana Filipovic said as she placed candles at the crash site.
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