Read more about Tony Rodriguez and Tina Tintor in today’s Daily Cover: When Henry Ruggs III Drove 127 mph Into a Car, One Man Rushed Into the Fire
Tony Rodriguez, a witness who attempted to save Tina Tintor after a deadly crash involving former Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, recounted the horrifying ordeal to Sports Illustrated contributor Jeff Pearlman in a story released Tuesday.
Rodriguez and his friend, Johnny Ellis, were driving south on Rainbow Boulevard, located a few miles from the Las Vegas Strip, on the morning of Nov. 2. As they drove, they came across Tintor’s Toyota RAV4 engulfed in flames and Ruggs’s crumbled up Corvette Stingray.
Moments earlier, Ruggs was driving down Rainbow Boulevard with his girlfriend, Kiara Kilgo-Washington. It is estimated Ruggs reached speeds of about 156 mph. He was traveling down the middle lane of the three-lane road when he merged into the right lane. There, he hit Tintor, who was driving slowly. Tintor and her golden retriever, Max, had been at a park with a friend and were on their way home.
Ruggs’s Corvette, traveling at 127 mph, slammed into Tintor’s SUV and sent it 600 feet down the northbound lanes before it came to a rest and caught fire.
Ruggs refused a field sobriety test, but when his blood was tested in the hospital, his BAC was 0.16%, twice the legal limit. He is currently on house arrest after being released on Nov. 3 on $150,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is set for May 19.
“This whole thing has me f---ed up,” Rodriguez said.
When Rodriguez stumbled upon the scene, he told Pearlman he parked the car in the middle of the street and ran to Kilgo-Washington first. She was screaming for help as Ruggs, who was not wearing a seatbelt, had halfway ejected from the vehicle.
“I was about to tell her not to move him, but it was too late—she grabbed him and pulled him fully out,” Rodriguez told Pearlman. “I have no idea who he is. I don’t care about football. Never heard of Henry Ruggs. But I didn’t see no life in his body. I thought he was dead.”
Then, Rodriguez and Ellis ran to Tintor’s vehicle. The RAV4’s windows and doors were locked, so Ellis ran to Rodriguez’s vehicle to retrieve a hammer in an attempt to rescue those inside. First, Ellis smashed the passenger-side window, but found no one inside. He threw the hammer to Rodriguez, who smashed open the driver’s window and found Tintor and Max inside.
Rodriguez punctured a discharged airbag inside the SUV and yelled to Tintor, “Come on! You have to help me! You have to!” Smoke surrounded them and was streaming out of the car’s front windows, making it impossible to breathe or see near the SUV.
As he attempted to free Tintor from her seatbelt, Rodriguez said he could hear breathing inside. The seatbelt was wrapped around the driver’s body tightly, and he was unable to free her.
“I was trying to cut it out, trying to figure out a way,” he said. “Nothing was working. I started on the door, fighting to open it. To get this person out somehow.”
Rodriguez said two more people came trying to help, but were unable to rescue Tintor. Ellis jumped away from the vehicle, but Rodriguez continued trying to get the 23-year-old out, to no avail.
The two friends walked back to their truck and left the scene. Rodriguez says he remembers looking down at his palms coated in her blood. As they drove down the road, they pulled into the parking lot of Spring Valley Hospital so Rodriguez could wash his hands.
“Johnny,” Rodriguez said, “I have to get this blood off of me. And I have to pray.”
Rodriguez told Pearlman that he is not a religious man, but he prayed as he watched the water pool red while he washed his hands.
“Please, God, get me through this. Please, God …”
When recounting the ordeal, he said he has not gotten over it.
“I’m gonna be honest,” he told Pearlman. “God hasn’t gotten me through it.”
