Moments before Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III’s fiery fatal crash early Tuesday morning, a security guard noticed a Corvette flying by at incredible speed.
Just 10 seconds later, Alex Hart, who was patrolling an apartment complex on Las Vegas’ South Rainbow Boulevard, “heard a vehicle trying to stop as tires were screeching, followed by a loud collision,” the complex’s owner said in a statement to 8 News Now on Friday.
Hart ran down the street to find Ruggs lying on the road beside his smashed up Corvette, and a Toyota RAV4 with Tina Tintor, 23, and her 3-year-old golden retriever, Max, trapped inside.
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He tried to pull Tintor out of the burning RAV4 but the heat was too intense, the company’s statement and a police report said. Seconds later, it burst into flames.
CCTV from the apartment block showed just how fast Ruggs was going. And video obtained by TMZ showed the horrific aftermath: the RAV4 engulfed in flames, the Corvette on the other side of the road with a destroyed windshield, and Ruggs on the road sobbing into his girlfriend’s arms.
“OK, OK, here I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” his girlfriend, Rudy Washington, is heard saying in the video as Ruggs yells, “Fuck! Fuck!”
She then pleads for help from bystanders and first responders, yelling that Ruggs is “knocked unconscious.”
Ruggs appeared in court Wednesday in a wheelchair with a neck brace. Prosecutors said his car was going 156 miles per hour and he had a blood alcohol level of .161, twice the legal limit, after partying at a swank golf venue in the MGM Grand earlier that night.
He was incoherent and combative after the crash, trying to pull out his IVs at the hospital and screaming at cops, according to the police report obtained by Las Vegas TV station KLAS.
Ruggs appeared in court in a wheelchair and neck brace.
Ethan Miller/GettyTintor’s parents were too devastated to talk about their loss, but the family released a statement to USA Today on Thursday.
“Tina’s tragic loss has devastated her family beyond a grief they could ever comprehend,” it said. “Family was everything to Tina, and she was the light of her parents’ life. Tina lived in Las Vegas since she was a baby. She loved her 3-year-old Golden Retriever, Max, who passed alongside her Tuesday morning.
“The Tintor family appreciates privacy as they mourn. May Tina rest in peace.”
Her brother, Djordje Tintor, said the family left war-torn Serbia in 2000 and came to Las Vegas as refugees when Tina was just a 3-year-old. She was on her way home early Tuesday morning after spending the night with a friend and taking her dog out to a park.
“They’re not comfortable with the attention and everything,’’ he said of his parents. “They just want to grieve in their way.’’
Ruggs was released by the Raiders this week. He left jail after posting $150,000 bail.
