Former Las Vegas Raiders catcher Henry Ruggs III has pleaded guilty to killing a woman and her dog while intoxicated in 2021.
The 24-year-old will avoid trial but is expected to be jailed for three to 10 years under the terms of his plea deal.
Ruggs was traveling up to 156mph when he crashed into Tina Tintor’s car, causing it to burst into flames.
It turned out to be more than double the legal drinking limit in Nevada.
Ruggs pleaded guilty to one count of impaired driving (driving under the influence) causing death and one count of manslaughter while driving a vehicle in the County District Court of Clark in Las Vegas.
The three-year minimum sentence cannot be reduced by converting the 18 months Ruggs spent under house arrest into time already served.
He would have faced a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, but potentially up to 50 years if convicted at trial.
District Attorney Steven B Wolfson said in a statement that the charge of driving under the influence causing death is “the most serious charge allowed by law” when a person dies as a result of the actions of a drunk driver.
Other charges against Ruggs were dismissed under the plea deal, including criminal reckless driving, driving under the influence causing serious injury to a passenger in his car – his girlfriend Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington — and a misdemeanor firearms charge stemming from the discovery by police of a loaded gun in his car, which Ruggs agreed to confiscate.
Ruggs joined the Las Vegas Raiders as the 12th overall pick in the 2020 draft, but was released the day after the November 2021 crash.
