By all accounts, what happened early Tuesday morning in Las Vegas was a senseless tragedy.
But Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is feeling especially guilty after teammate Henry Ruggs was involved in a fiery car accident that killed a 23-year-old woman and dog.
“My heart goes out, so much — (I’m) trying to say it with a straight face because I’ve already been emotional about every bit of this — but to the family, to all the families involved,” Carr told reporters Wednesday after his former wideout was released from the team.
Ruggs was charged with a DUI resulting in death after crashing his Chevrolet Corvette into the deceased victim’s Toyota Rav4, trapping her in the drivers seat as the vehicle was engulfed in flames. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 22-year-old woman who was in the vehicle with Ruggs was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Carr told reporters he had just been texting with Ruggs hours before the accident, and the 22-year-old sent him and Hunter Renfrow videos of his golf swing at TopGolf asking for pointers.
Then, Carr woke up to learn his teammates life would never be the same.
“No one ever wants to see this, whether it’s a football player or not, you never want to see something like this happen,” Carr said. “It broke my wife and (my) heart honestly. When it comes to this situation there’s so many things out of our control, but then I do sit back and I think, ‘Did I not let him know that I’d be there for him at 3 a.m.? I want to be better.”
Ruggs’ blood-alcohol content was twice the legal limit and he was driving 156 mph two seconds before the crash and 127 mph when the airbags deployed in his Corvette.
Ruggs is due back in court Nov. 10.
