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The Las Vegas Raiders were struck with devastating news on Tuesday, November 2, when the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department revealed that star wide receiver Henry Ruggs was involved in a fatal car crash that led to the death of a 23-year-old woman.
According to the police, Ruggs “showed signs of impairment” when authorities arrived on the scene and has been charged with a DUI resulting in death.
During his court appearance on November 3, Ruggs appeared in a neck brace and wheelchair as prosecutors said he was traveling at 156 miles per hour two seconds before the crash, with a blood alcohol content “more than twice the legal limit, and a loaded gun was found in the car,” Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Katelyn Newberg revealed. Ruggs remained in custody at the Clark County Detention Center on $150,000 bail as of the afternoon of November 3, according to online records viewed by Heavy.
He will now face a long legal process as the Raiders continue playing football.
The team is barely getting over head coach Jon Gruden resigning in October and will now be dealing with more adversity. Starting quarterback Derek Carr will be tasked with trying to keep the Raiders focused through this tragedy.
David Carr, the quarterback’s older brother and the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 2002, took to Twitter after the Ruggs news broke and proclaimed that his brother would not only be the MVP of the league, but possibly the most valuable player in a season ever “when” the Raiders make the Super Bowl.
Many believed that Carr’s tweet was insensitive considering the circumstances around Ruggs and the death of another person, which led to him quickly deleting it. One person called it “a top 10 worst tweet ever,” while another said it was “cringe-worthy.”
Though he did delete the tweet, that didn’t stop many from going after Carr for it.
Another Twitter user called out the elder Carr for a “lack of humanity.”
NFL media personality “lindseyyok” also had a pretty blunt response to Carr’s tweet, writing, “Did David Carr really tweet that.”
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Carr Apologizes for Tweet
David Carr isn’t wrong about the fact that the Raiders have faced a lot of adversity this year. However, there’s a time and a place to discuss those topics. Carr understood that his timing was not the best and issued an apology for the since-deleted tweet.
“I’ll try this again, my apologies if the last tweet sounded [insensitive], I just can’t imagine another team having to deal with so much off the field. It obviously hits a little closer to home for a brother,” Carr wrote.
A collision investigation report by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department indicates Ruggs “was traveling … at a high rate of speed” when he “struck the rear of the Toyota,” which “caught on fire with the driver trapped in the driver’s seat.” The 23-year-old driver died on the scene, according to police. “Prosecutors said a dog was also killed in the crash,” Newberg reported. Ruggs and his passenger, identified as his 22-year-old girlfriend Kiara Kilgo-Washington, also known as Rudy Washington, were both transported to University Medical Center Trauma with “serious” injuries, according to the police report.
There will be a long process facing Ruggs — who could face penalties including two to 20 years in prison, fines ranging from $2,000-$5,000 and a three-year driver’s license suspension if convicted of the class B felony — and the Raiders, but the time to discuss Carr as an MVP candidate is not right now.
What’s Next for Raiders & Carr?
There will be a lot to figure out in the coming days for the Raiders. Ruggs’ injuries were listed by the police as “non-life-threatening” but “serious,” according to the police report.
Considering the charges against him, Ruggs could end up on the NFL commissioner’s exempt list as the legal process plays out. That would keep him out indefinitely.
On Tuesday evening at 9:50 p.m. local time, the Raiders announced that they had officially released Ruggs from the roster.
With Las Vegas quickly moving on, the team loses its top receiver, as Ruggs led the team with 469 receiving yards through Week 8. He developed into a dependable deep threat for Carr. The team now only has three wide receivers on the active roster in Bryan Edwards, Hunter Renfrow and Zay Jones and the November 2 trade deadline has passed without the Raiders making a move.
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