Las Vegas Raiders WR Henry Ruggs to be charged with DUI resulting in death

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III is facing a driving under the influence charge after a fiery vehicle crash early Tuesday in Las Vegas that left a woman dead and Ruggs and his female passenger injured, authorities said.

According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Ruggs was driving a Chevrolet Corvette a little before 3:40 a.m. when it crashed into the rear of a Toyota Rav4 on a busy thoroughfare in a residential area several miles west of the Las Vegas Strip.

The Toyota caught fire and the driver died, police said. She was not immediately identified.

Ruggs, 22, "showed signs of impairment,'' police said in a statement that said he will be charged with felony DUI resulting in death.

Charges were not yet filed. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he was aware of the crash and would await results of the police investigation.

Probation is not an option in Nevada for a conviction on a charge of DUI causing death, which carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in state prison.

www.espn.com

WR Ruggs faces 2 felony charges in fatal crash

Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III faces felony charges of DUI resulting in death and reckless driving after he was involved in a two-vehicle accident that left a woman dead early Tuesday morning.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per ESPN:

Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III is facing a driving under the influence charge after a fiery vehicle crash early Tuesday in Las Vegas that left a woman dead and Ruggs and his female passenger injured, authorities said.

According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Ruggs was driving a Chevrolet Corvette a little before 3:40 a.m. when it crashed into the rear of a Toyota Rav4 on a busy thoroughfare in a residential area several miles west of the Las Vegas Strip.

The Toyota caught fire and the driver died, police said. She was not immediately identified.

Ruggs, 22, "showed signs of impairment,'' police said in a statement that said he will be charged with felony DUI resulting in death.

Charges were not yet filed. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he was aware of the crash and would await results of the police investigation.

Probation is not an option in Nevada for a conviction on a charge of DUI causing death, which carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in state prison.

www.espn.com

WR Ruggs faces 2 felony charges in fatal crash

Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III faces felony charges of DUI resulting in death and reckless driving after he was involved in a two-vehicle accident that left a woman dead early Tuesday morning.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
WTF.... Just about impossible to get behind this damn team and stick with it. Gotta hand it to lifelong Raiders fans. I almost bought a Ruggs jersey for the games too but went with Josh Jacobs instead.
 

Selfish, despicable...That's guaranteed prison time, right?

His career is over in any case.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
WTF.... Just about impossible to get behind this damn team and stick with it. Gotta hand it to lifelong Raiders fans. I almost bought a Ruggs jersey for the games too but went with Josh Jacobs instead.
Click to expand...
Why not Waller? Great redemption story.
 





Ogee Oglethorpe said:
3:40am. WTF was he thinking.... Just a terrible terrible mistake. He should face the maximum.

If we were really serious about impaired driving, our sentences would be 10 times more severe than they currently are.
Click to expand...

This.

I don't understand why our impaired driving sentences aren't much stricter.

The day my sister was born (1975) my Mom's three best friends came to visit her in the hospital. Upon leaving, all 3 (same car) were hit by a drunk driver, all 3 died. My Mom said it was the best and worst day of her life. Driver was given minimal sentence, 30 months in jail or something like that.

Go Gophers!!
 

Nax5 said:
Selfish, despicable...That's guaranteed prison time, right?

His career is over in any case.
Click to expand...
Dante Stallworth missed 1 season after doing the same thing.

Leonard Little killed someone his rookie year (DUI) and the team sat him for like 5 games. He was suspended for 9 games the following season after it was adjudicated. He then got another DWI a few years later and I don't believe missed any time.

Times have likely changed on this but I would be shocked if Ruggs doesn't get another shot in the NFL. I'm with you though, he shouldn't.
 



BleedGopher said:
This.

I don't understand why our impaired driving sentences aren't much stricter.

The day my sister was born (1975) my Mom's three best friends came to visit her in the hospital. Upon leaving, all 3 (same car) were hit by a drunk driver, all 3 died. My Mom said it was the best and worst day of her life. Driver was given minimal sentence, 30 months in jail or something like that.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
I agree. They should be much stricter. There are few things more dangerous than driving offenses. I feel the same way about drastic speeding, texting while driving, etc.

IMO, the reason why these things don't have harsher sentences is because so many of us have done it. There are likely very few people on this board who have dealt drugs (like more than a dime bag here and there), there are likely very few people who have done a lot of the more serious crimes. So we often sort of do this mental gymnastics where we think of people who get DWIs as people who made egregious mistakes and we think of people who steal cars as criminals. Without getting into any sort of debate whether that difference in mindset is right or wrong, I think it explains why we are sort of easy on such a dangerous and deadly illegal activity.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I agree. They should be much stricter. There are few things more dangerous than driving offenses. I feel the same way about drastic speeding, texting while driving, etc.

IMO, the reason why these things don't have harsher sentences is because so many of us have done it. There are likely very few people on this board who have dealt drugs (like more than a dime bag here and there), there are likely very few people who have done a lot of the more serious crimes. So we often sort of do this mental gymnastics where we think of people who get DWIs as people who made egregious mistakes and we think of people who steal cars as criminals. Without getting into any sort of debate whether that difference in mindset is right or wrong, I think it explains why we are sort of easy on such a dangerous and deadly illegal activity.
Click to expand...
Your take could be correct, about so many of us having done it. I have a slightly more cynical take.

Harsher sentences would be CRUSHING to the alcohol industry, and I mean DEVASTATING. It would reduce alcohol sales across the board more than likely, I honestly think people would drink less and less and the booze industry would suffer. Maybe they don't have the lobbying power of tobacco and big pharma, but I'm sure they have a presence.

Lastly, you may see Ruggs face some similar consequences that have been mentioned above, not much more than a slap on the hand, and yet Jon Gruden calls the NFL commissioner a fag and exchanges some pictures of cheerleaders with a peer and he'll get banished from the league probably for life.

How's that for making any sense at all?
 


Ruggs released. He was under contract through 2023 and his release costs the Raiders a little over $5M this season. He was slated to have a cap hit of $7.4M in 2022 and $5.3M in 2023 but I would imagine the Raiders will escape those commitments based on the circumstances.

What a waste, all the way around. Sad day, loss of life senselessly
 



BleedGopher said:
This.

I don't understand why our impaired driving sentences aren't much stricter.

The day my sister was born (1975) my Mom's three best friends came to visit her in the hospital. Upon leaving, all 3 (same car) were hit by a drunk driver, all 3 died. My Mom said it was the best and worst day of her life. Driver was given minimal sentence, 30 months in jail or something like that.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
That is so tragic.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Your take could be correct, about so many of us having done it. I have a slightly more cynical take.

Harsher sentences would be CRUSHING to the alcohol industry, and I mean DEVASTATING. It would reduce alcohol sales across the board more than likely, I honestly think people would drink less and less and the booze industry would suffer. Maybe they don't have the lobbying power of tobacco and big pharma, but I'm sure they have a presence.

Lastly, you may see Ruggs face some similar consequences that have been mentioned above, not much more than a slap on the hand, and yet Jon Gruden calls the NFL commissioner a fag and exchanges some pictures of cheerleaders with a peer and he'll get banished from the league probably for life.

How's that for making any sense at all?
Click to expand...
Gruden can't run a 4.4 40. Seriously. That's how it works. He's a bigot who's not an owner and he's not a player. He's easily disposable because he has no leverage. Also, Goodell is no Adam Silver, who forced out Donald Sterling for similar behavior.

I'm not sure if I agree with you about harsher penalties crushing alcohol sales. Ireland has some of the toughest drunk driving laws in the world and pub life is vibrant.
 

jamiche said:
Gruden can't run a 4.4 40. Seriously. That's how it works. He's a bigot who's not an owner and he's not a player. He's easily disposable because he has no leverage. Also, Goodell is no Adam Silver, who forced out Donald Sterling for similar behavior.

I'm not sure if I agree with you about harsher penalties crushing alcohol sales. Ireland has some of the toughest drunk driving laws in the world and pub life is vibrant.
Click to expand...
I think that's precisely his point. It's often a bigger deal to big a bigot than it is to do what Henry Ruggs did.

Gruden had considerably more leverage than Henry Ruggs. It's not even close. You have to be a pretty elite level player to have more leverage than the HC.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think that's precisely his point. It's often a bigger deal to big a bigot than it is to do what Henry Ruggs did.

Gruden had considerably more leverage than Henry Ruggs. It's not even close. You have to be a pretty elite level player to have more leverage than the HC.
Click to expand...
Unless the HC was 22-31.
 


jamiche said:
Unless the HC was 22-31.
Click to expand...
I take it you don't follow the NFL? I don't mean that as insult, but Gruden signed a massive contract and the team went from 4-12, to 7-9, to 8-8. They are now 5-2. This was after a massive overhaul and trading away all of their best players (Mack, Cooper) and bottoming out and rebuilding. They were progressing about how you would want your team to progress. Pointing to his record and saying he had less average than a very mediocre WR is absolutely insane. An average head football coach in the NFL (who is progressing in the right direction) has considerably more leverage than an average WR. Hell, Kevan Stefanski has more leverage than OBJ. It's not even close.

Let me reiterate that I think Gruden was overrated as a coach and I thought his legacy was sort of created on Tony Dungy's work. I also think he did a strangely poor job at drafting. I might be biased because Dungy is a Gopher, but I'm not arguing that I think Gruden was great, I'm arguing that many people did.
 

Honestly, one thing that riles me up pretty consistently is seeing stories in the news of the 15x DUI offender being caught (again), the person that's had their license suspended 10x over and hit/killed somebody, etc. There were two in MN in the past week or so of serial offenders hitting and killing somebody on roadways.

I get that sometimes people just make bad choices, but it's not some sort of ongoing potential problem. Depending on circumstance, I get that it might make sense to give a light sentence to something that is truly an accident (dude blew a .08, was traveling around the speed limit and hit somebody that was fixing a flat right along the roadside at night). OK, maybe you go a little lenient there. But blowing a .161 while doing 156 in the middle of the night? Yeah, lock the dude up. He is a legitimate threat to the safety of others. Likewise, why is a guy that's had 15 DUI's even allowed to roam the free world? He is probably more dangerous to the general public than about 75% of the people currently in prison, when he habitually drives a 4000lb+ death missile around with no respect for other's lives.

Slightly off topic, but here in the US, it is WAY too easy to get and maintain a driver's license. And far too light of consequences when you break the law regarding licensing. We act like it's some God given right to drive, no matter your skill, impairment, history, or state of vehicle.
 

The most infuriating part about any of these stories involving athletes is that they all have access to free rides to get them home. There is literally NO reason to drive home drunk- call a number and get a free ride home in a blacked out Suburban.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think that's precisely his point. It's often a bigger deal to big a bigot than it is to do what Henry Ruggs did.

Gruden had considerably more leverage than Henry Ruggs. It's not even close. You have to be a pretty elite level player to have more leverage than the HC.
Click to expand...
I don't believe Gruden is a bigot, not even close. There's a huge gap between a person who makes the occasional snide comment, locker room talk, and someone who is an actual bigot or racist. Guys make jokes amongst themselves about women all the time, it doesn't make them sexist animals. But that's where we are right now; one comment or statement, regardless of when, brands you a bigot or a racist.... unless you're Biden I guess. At that point you can say anything and it will be buried

Anyway, what Ruggs did was a terrible terrible thing. He'll have to live with that for the rest of his life. The horribly, terribly ironic thing here is, Ruggs had one of his best childhood friends die in a car accident when he was younger and paid tribute to that friend every time he scored a TD. That has to hurt a lot right now, and again is something he'll have to live with for the rest of his days.
 

forever a gopher said:
The most infuriating part about any of these stories involving athletes is that they all have access to free rides to get them home. There is literally NO reason to drive home drunk- call a number and get a free ride home in a blacked out Suburban.
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I heard a great take on this on a podcast this morning, that basically this idea is a terrible take. I had to agree to an extent. The speakers point was, EVERYONE can afford an Uber or Lyft nowadays, not just elite millionaire athletes; janitors, convenience store clerk, whatever. Getting a ride home is NOT something exclusive to the wealthy.
 

jamiche said:
Gruden can't run a 4.4 40. Seriously. That's how it works. He's a bigot who's not an owner and he's not a player. He's easily disposable because he has no leverage. Also, Goodell is no Adam Silver, who forced out Donald Sterling for similar behavior.

I'm not sure if I agree with you about harsher penalties crushing alcohol sales. Ireland has some of the toughest drunk driving laws in the world and pub life is vibrant.
Click to expand...
Gruden is an owner. He got 1% of the Raiders in his deal to become coach.

I'm not sure if there's clawback language, vesting years, or anything like that though.
 

TruthSeeker said:
Gruden is an owner. He got 1% of the Raiders in his deal to become coach.

I'm not sure if there's clawback language, vesting years, or anything like that though.
Click to expand...
Ryan Saunders' family also owns a tiny percentage of the wolves. Didn't help him keep his job.
 

jamiche said:
Ryan Saunders' family also owns a tiny percentage of the wolves. Didn't help him keep his job.
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It helped get him the job and keep it for as long as he did. He had an historically bad record.

No one and I mean no one, was arguing that Gruden couldn't be touched. We were merely arguing that he had more leverage than an average player.

Lets take your Ryan Saunders example, the Timberwolves moved on from Corey Brewer. Corey Brewer had less leverage with the Wolves than Ryan Saunders and Ryan Saunders was losing a ton.

Jon Gruden was turning it around and on a 10 year $100 million dollar contract.

It's not even close as to who had more leverage. It's a strange argument to even make.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I don't believe Gruden is a bigot, not even close. There's a huge gap between a person who makes the occasional snide comment, locker room talk, and someone who is an actual bigot or racist. Guys make jokes amongst themselves about women all the time, it doesn't make them sexist animals. But that's where we are right now; one comment or statement, regardless of when, brands you a bigot or a racist.... unless you're Biden I guess. At that point you can say anything and it will be buried

Anyway, what Ruggs did was a terrible terrible thing. He'll have to live with that for the rest of his life. The horribly, terribly ironic thing here is, Ruggs had one of his best childhood friends die in a car accident when he was younger and paid tribute to that friend every time he scored a TD. That has to hurt a lot right now, and again is something he'll have to live with for the rest of his days.
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I agree on Gruden, I just didn't want to get bogged down on the semantic argument with the other poster.

I should have said "even if Gruden was a bigot".
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
It helped get him the job and keep it for as long as he did. He had an historically bad record.

No one and I mean no one, was arguing that Gruden couldn't be touched. We were merely arguing that he had more leverage than an average player.

Lets take your Ryan Saunders example, the Timberwolves moved on from Corey Brewer. Corey Brewer had less leverage with the Wolves than Ryan Saunders and Ryan Saunders was losing a ton.

Jon Gruden was turning it around and on a 10 year $100 million dollar contract.

It's not even close as to who had more leverage. It's a strange argument to even make.
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Here we go again.

First of all, you don't know the actual terms of Gruden's contract. If he had real leverage, would he have "resigned" so quickly? You don't know the actual economic terms. You don't know how much was guaranteed. You don't know about "cause." You don't know who the arbiter of "cause" was.

Brewer actually signed two contracts with the wolves. Both were guaranteed. The first one was for five years, I believe. The second one was for three years. Ryan Saunders signed one three year deal. The contract amount was never reported. We also don't know if it was guranteed. NBA player contracts are guaranteed. We don't know if coach's contracts are guaranteed.

We also don't know if Corey was an average player. My guess is that he was slightly below average. It probably doesn't matter.

Your points don't hold.
 

jamiche said:
Here we go again.

First of all, you don't know the actual terms of Gruden's contract. If he had real leverage, would he have "resigned" so quickly? You don't know the actual economic terms. You don't know how much was guaranteed. You don't know about "cause." You don't know who the arbiter of "cause" was.

Brewer actually signed two contracts with the wolves. Both were guaranteed. The first one was for five years, I believe. The second one was for three years. Ryan Saunders signed one three year deal. The contract amount was never reported. We also don't know if it was guranteed. NBA player contracts are guaranteed. We don't know if coach's contracts are guaranteed.

We also don't know if Corey was an average player. My guess is that he was slightly below average. It probably doesn't matter.

Your points don't hold.
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Your argument is that an average WR on an NFL team has more leverage than the Head Coach who also had the final say in all of the personnel decisions? LOL. That's really your argument? The argument should really just end right there. But here we go. . .

(1) If Gruden wanted to cut Ruggs, he would have had the authority to do it. He might have pissed off the ownership but it was part of his contract. There isn't a universe where Ruggs had any method to fire Jon Gruden. None. It's not possible.

(2) As to your point about the "cause" argument, you actually completely missed the point. I wasn't arguing that it would have been expensive to fire Gruden given the circumstances (nor would it be expensive to "fire" Ruggs), I'm using the contract as evidence of the enormous investment the Raiders put into Gruden. They gave him (allegedly) $100 million with the the final say on all personnel decisions. The keys to the "kingdom". Henry Ruggs was an ok receiver. The difference is so vast in terms of leverage within the organization, you have to be the only person on planet earth dumb enough to even begin to argue it. It's a horrible take.

(3) You're doing this really strange stuff of comparing years of contracts. It's weird. You're like a little kid scribbling on paper pretending to work. The point isn't about the years, it's about who has the authority, investment, and power. Just because you're in that position, doesn't mean that you're going to last at a place longer.

  • Here is an example, the Wolves GM was just canned for a bunch of different nefarious things. Before canning him, the Wolves conducted an investigation and did a bunch of due diligence because canning your GM is a big deal. Now, had the Wolves had similar issues with Josh Okogie, Okogie would have been shipped out of town without even blinking. Gone. The mere fact that Okogie is still on the Wolves and the GM is not is absolutely not evidence that he had more leverage.
 


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