Woman Killed in Crash Involving Henry Ruggs III Burned to Death, Coroner Says

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool, File

Clark County coroner Melanie Rouse said Tuesday that Tina Tintor, the 23-year-old woman who died in the Nov. 2 car crash involving former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, burned to death.

Rouse said in a statement that Tintor “died from thermal injuries due to a motor vehicle collision” and that “other significant conditions contributing to her death were inhalation of products of combustion, fractures of the nasal bones, right-sided ribs … left forearm and (chest),” per Ken Ritter of the Associated Press.

Ritter noted Ruggs is alleged to have been driving up to 156 mph before slamming into the back of Tintor’s car.

Ruggs is charged with felony counts of DUI resulting in death, DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm and two counts of reckless driving.

According to Jonah Dylan of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, prosecutors said Ruggs’ blood alcohol level was 0.16 percent after the crash, which is twice Nevada’s legal limit for drivers. He could face 40 years in prison if convicted on the DUI counts.

Las Vegas released Ruggs following the crash, and Ritter noted he is on house arrest after posting $150,000 bail. Ruggs and his girlfriend, Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, were hospitalized after the crash.

While Ruggs’ lawyers, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, said in court documents they have a witness who said firefighters were slow to respond to the fire that killed Tintor, Clark County spokesperson Erik Pappa said in a November statement there were no “delays in response or in the attack on the fire.”

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for March 10.