Ex-NFL Star's Request Denied by Board After Deadly DUI Crash
When a college football player is selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, it will naturally come with lofty expectations.
When a player is taken 12th overall, like former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was in the 2020 NFL Draft, they’re usually saddled with superstar-level expectations.
And for a while, it looked like Ruggs would have a chance to live up to those expectations, due to his incredible athleticism and speed.
Then came November 2021.
According to Fox News, on the night of Nov. 2, Ruggs was driving his Chevrolet Corvette going 156 miles per hour in Las Vegas when he crashed into the car of 23-year-old Tina Tintor.
Both Tintor and her dog, Max, died after her car erupted in flames.
Of note, Ruggs had registered a blood alcohol level of .16 — twice the legal limit in Nevada — on the night of the tragic incident.
In May 2023, Ruggs pleaded guilty to a felony DUI causing death, as well as a charge of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
That August, Ruggs was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
For the now-27-year-old Ruggs, the prison sentence effectively ended the talented wideout’s career before it could ever really take off — unless he can be granted parole.
However, as ESPN reported, the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners denied Ruggs’ parole request on Thursday, despite the best attempts of the former NFL player’s legal team.
“Mr. Ruggs, and our office, continue to feel the grief and loss suffered by Ms. Tintor’s family,” Ruggs’ legal team said Thursday. They expressed disappointment with the parole denial.
One of the attorneys had even pleaded for the board to ignore Ruggs’ celebrity status during a May hearing.
“Sometimes being high-profile makes it more of a burden,” one of the attorneys had said, “and I would most respectfully ask everybody to treat Henry the way they would anybody that comes before them, except for the fact that I think he’s tried to do as much as humanly possible to send a message that his behavior was unacceptable.”
During that same May hearing, Ruggs also pleaded his case, claiming that he was genuinely remorseful for the deadly incident, and that he took “full responsibility for my actions that led to Ms. Tintor’s death and her dog, Max. Not a minute goes by where I don’t think of the pain I caused her family, her friends and the Las Vegas community. I’m a religious person, and I pray for her family daily.”
Ruggs also told the board then that he had spoken to Tintor’s brother to apologize profusely.
Ruggs’ supporters had also offered plenty of testimony about the way in which the former Raider had reformed for the better following his life-changing arrest.
“He wants to be a good citizen,” Ruggs’ agent said. “He wants to be someone that’s positive.”
One of Ruggs’ mentors, meanwhile, told ESPN that the former NFL standout had much different plans for the rest of his life: “We’re trying to be the No. 1 advocate [against] DUI, drunk driving.”
While many consider Ruggs’ NFL career to be effectively over, numerous reports and rumblings have suggested that he would like to resume a professional football career, if at all possible.
Ruggs would be 28 for the 2027 NFL season, should he be granted parole by then.
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