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Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III issued an apology to the family of Tina Tintor, the 23-year-old woman killed in his 2021 drunk driving crash, while receiving a special release to speak at a Hope for Prisoners event in Las Vegas on Tuesday (June 17).
"I wish I could turn back the hands of time," Ruggs said when asked what he would say to Tintor's family in a video taken by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I would love for them to meet the real Henry Ruggs and not the one that was escaping from something."
Ruggs later clarified that he used drinking as a way of "escaping" the pressure of being selected as a first-round NFL Draft pick, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I didn’t pay attention to the help that I had in front of me because I knew it all,” Ruggs said.
Ruggs, a former College Football Playoff national champion at the University of Alabama, was sentenced to between three to 10 years in prison in relation to the November 2021 DUI crash that killed Tinton and her dog, Max, in 2023. The 26-year-old will be eligible for parole on August 6, 2026.
Officers said Ruggs was driving drunk at speeds reaching 156 MPH before his car slammed into the rear of Tinton's Toyota RAV4 on a Las Vegas street where the speed limit is 45 MPH. The former Alabama standout was selected by the Raiders at No. 12 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft and recorded 50 receptions for 921 yards and four touchdowns, as well as 65 yards on 12 rushing attempts during his first two NFL seasons.
Ruggs said he "would love to" play football again if given the opportunity by an NFL team.
“Why would I not?” Ruggs said. “I don’t feel like I ended on the terms that are meaningful to me and my core values. I would love to play again, and what better place to do it than where I started? Not to mention, I was the first-ever pick in Las Vegas.”