Henry Ruggs’ Lawyers Argue for Exclusion of Blood-Alcohol Levels in Car Accident Case

Lawyers for ex-Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs say they want the player’s blood-alcohol levels excluded from his prosecution because, they claim, police obtained the evidence improperly.

Ruggs, who faces years behind bars if convicted of a drunk driving accident that killed a woman in Los Vegas in 2021, was arrested last November for allegedly driving drunk at 156 mph, smashing into a woman, killing her when her car burst into an instant inferno.

The ex-player was quickly sent to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries giving police no time to conduct a field sobriety test. As a result, the police soon took out a warrant to obtain his blood-alcohol levels.

Henry Ruggs enters a Nevada courtroom (Bizuayehu Tesfaye-Pool/Getty Images)

But, according to Pro Football Talk, Ruggs’ lawyers are now trying to claim that the police had no legal basis to demand the player’s blood-alcohol levels.

“True probable cause did not exist,” attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in a recent court filing. “The mere fact of Mr. Ruggs’s involvement in a fatal vehicle collision does not, in itself, give rise to probable cause to believe he was driving under the influence of alcohol.”

Ruggs’ attorneys noted that a police supervisor allegedly told officers seeking the warrant that “driving behavior and death alone is going to get you a warrant all day.” Therefore, the attorneys insist that the accident and the victim’s horrific death were not obvious proof that Ruggs was driving drunk. Hence, they claim the police had no justification to obtain the levels through a warrant. Ruggs’ attorneys also assert the supervisor who approved the warrant had no basis for assuming Ruggs was drunk.

Former Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs (Steve Marcus-Pool/Getty Images)

The filing may seem like a hail Mary pass. We’ll know soon, though, as a hearing on the motion will be held sometime next month.

Ruggs was seen sobbing at the scene in the aftermath of the fiery crash, and a coroner ruled that the victim, 23-year-old Tina Tintor, was still alive when her car burst into flames and she was burned to death.

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