Henry Ruggs III drove 156 mph seconds before fatal car crash, prosecutors say

Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was driving 156 mph with a blood alcohol content twice Nevada’s legal limit before his car slammed into the rear of a vehicle that burned, killing a 23-year-old woman, according to prosecutors.

Ruggs, 22, remained seated in a wheelchair with a foam brace on his neck and jail guards at his elbows during his initial court appearance Wednesday on pending felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in death and reckless driving.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure said he was troubled by his initial review of the case against Ruggs, adding that in 16 years on the bench he had never heard of a crash involving a vehicle traveling so fast.

Nevertheless, he rejected prosecutor Eric Bauman’s request to set Ruggs’ bail at $1 million and instead set the amount at $150,000 with strict conditions to include home confinement, electronic monitoring, no alcohol, no driving and the surrender of Ruggs’ passport.

According to police, Tina O. Tintor was the name of the Las Vegas woman who died with her dog in the wrecked and burned Toyota RAV4. Records show she lived several blocks from where the crash occurred on a busy thoroughfare in a residential area several miles west of the Las Vegas Strip.

Bauman told the judge that air bag computer records showed that the Corvette decelerated from 156 mph to 127 mph before it slammed into a Toyota at about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday, rupturing the vehicle’s fuel tank and igniting a fireball.

The Raiders released Ruggs late Tuesday, just hours after the crash and shortly after he was released from a hospital and booked into a Las Vegas jail. The extent of his injuries was not disclosed, although Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said outside court that he believed Ruggs suffered a leg injury.

Ruggs’ girlfriend, identified by police as Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, 22, of Las Vegas, was with him in the car and was also injured in the crash. She underwent…