Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs was sentenced to 3-10 years in prison Wednesday following a 2021 drunk-driving car crash that killed Tina Tintor and her dog.
Ruggs was driving his sports car as fast as 156 mph at the time of the accident with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. Tintor and her dog were sitting inside a parked vehicle when Ruggs’ sports car smashed into them at an extremely high speed causing it to burst into flames.
Ruggs pleaded guilty to charges of DUI resulting in death and vehicular manslaughter as part of a plea deal.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 22: Former Las Vegas Raiders player Henry Ruggs III appears in court at the Regional Justice Center on November 22, 2021, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ruggs has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor to measure his alcohol level after he missed a court-ordered test. Ruggs faces DUI charges after a fatal car crash. (Photo by Bizuayehu Tesfaye-Pool/Getty Images)
“I sincerely apologize,” Ruggs said during the Wednesday hearing. “I have no excuse.”
District Attorney Steven B. Wolfson released a statement after Ruggs pleaded guilty in May. In that statement, Wolfson lamented the insufficiency of the deal but pointed to problems with how the search warrant to draw Ruggs’ blood was obtained following the crash as the reason for reaching a plea deal. “I recognize this outcome is not sufficient to punish Ruggs for the loss the Tintor family has suffered,” Wolfson said, “but there was a legitimate concern that a court would have suppressed the result of the blood draw. We would have lost the felony DUI charge. We couldn’t take that chance. This resolution sends Ruggs to prison for up to 10 years on a felony DUI conviction and brings closure to the Tintor family.”
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 3: Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III makes an initial appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court on November 3, 2021, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ruggs is facing charges relating to a fiery vehicle crash early Tuesday in Las Vegas that left a woman dead and Ruggs and his female passenger injured. The photo is taken through a glass window. (Photo by Steve Marcus-Pool/Getty Images)
The Tintor family also released a statement at that time.
“Today, like every day, we remember Tina and Max, and how they were taken from us that fateful night,” the statement read.. “N sentence will ever bring Tina and Max back, but we hope that everyone learns from this preventable incident so that no other families suffer like we do. We appreciate the efforts of the district attorney’s office to overcome the issues caused by the initial investigation, and we look forward to putting this behind us so that we can focus on honoring the memories of Tina and Max.”
