Former Raiders WR Ruggs charged in fatal crash, released from Las Vegas Raiders

JCizzle

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I know life isn't always simple, but not taking a taxi/Uber doesn't make sense to me. Doubly so for anyone that wealthy.
 

E5 Yaz

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RedOctober3829

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4:00 am on a Tuesday morning?? Why, just why, are you driving drunk at this point? It's Vegas....there's a million Ubers and private car services to utilize if you want to go out and have a good time. Just incredibly sad situation but also incredibly stupid.
 

Scoops Bolling

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One of the perks of being an NFL player is a free car service that is available to them 24-7. A life ended and a career likely over because no one just picked up the damn phone and got Riggs a ride.
 

jcd0805

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One of the perks of being an NFL player is a free car service that is available to them 24-7. A life ended and a career likely over because no one just picked up the damn phone and got Riggs a ride.
Maybe HE should have picked up the damn phone and gotten himself a damn ride.
 

Kliq

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For some reason I find myself rooting for players who are overdrafted and spend the early parts of their career being ridiculed for their only crime being that they ran too fast in the 40 or impressed scouts too much on their pro-day. So I always rooted for Ruggs because it was so controversial he was taken over guys like Lamb and Jeudy (not to mention Jefferson) and I wanted to see him do well. This is just horrible and tragic and incredibly preventable.
 

bosockboy

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For some reason I find myself rooting for players who are overdrafted and spend the early parts of their career being ridiculed for their only crime being that they ran too fast in the 40 or impressed scouts too much on their pro-day. So I always rooted for Ruggs because it was so controversial he was taken over guys like Lamb and Jeudy (not to mention Jefferson) and I wanted to see him do well. This is just horrible and tragic and incredibly preventable.
He was breaking out this season too.
 

JOBU

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That’s part of the problem with drinking alcohol. It impairs judgement. I don’t think it’s as easy as saying “he should just pick up the damn phone”. Easy for us to cast judgement down upon someone in hindsight. I know I’m guilty of it as well from time to time. But with that said people that drive drunk often let it get to the point where the internal right vs wrong conversation never takes place. I’m not making excuses for the guy or anyone that has ever had a dui. Just one of the many negative effects of alcohol. Very sad and unfortunate.
 

nolasoxfan

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For some reason I find myself rooting for players who are overdrafted and spend the early parts of their career being ridiculed for their only crime being that they ran too fast in the 40 or impressed scouts too much on their pro-day. So I always rooted for Ruggs because it was so controversial he was taken over guys like Lamb and Jeudy (not to mention Jefferson) and I wanted to see him do well. This is just horrible and tragic and incredibly preventable.
Yeah, well, now there is another crime associated with him, and I hope he does hard time if he's found guilty.

Edit: Also, is "impairment" is always associated with alcohol? Couldn't the impairment be from marijuana or any number of other substances. I see no mention of alcohol or drinking in the reports. Probably a safe bet to say the accident was alcohol -related, but the reports don't explicitly say so.
 
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BigJimEd

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That’s part of the problem with drinking alcohol. It impairs judgement. I don’t think it’s as easy as saying “he should just pick up the damn phone”. Easy for us to cast judgement down upon someone in hindsight. I know I’m guilty of it as well from time to time. But with that said people that drive drunk often let it get to the point where the internal right vs wrong conversation never takes place. I’m not making excuses for the guy or anyone that has ever had a dui. Just one of the many negative effects of alcohol. Very sad and unfortunate.
Sure sounds like you are making excuses. It really isn't difficult at all. Plan ahead and don't put yourself in that position. As has been said this was easily avoidable! No reason for anyone to put themselves in that situation but especially someone like Ruggs with all the resources he has available to him.

Someone has lost their life because he couldn't be bothered.
 

Old Fart Tree

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I don’t think we need to litigate the moral failure of drunk driving in this thread. It was bad, he shouldn’t have done it, to do so was selfish and cost an innocent life. We all know this.
 

joe dokes

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That’s part of the problem with drinking alcohol. It impairs judgement. I don’t think it’s as easy as saying “he should just pick up the damn phone”. Easy for us to cast judgement down upon someone in hindsight. I know I’m guilty of it as well from time to time. But with that said people that drive drunk often let it get to the point where the internal right vs wrong conversation never takes place. I’m not making excuses for the guy or anyone that has ever had a dui. Just one of the many negative effects of alcohol. Very sad and unfortunate.
The flaw in this thought is that one living in Vegas can avoid the "conversation" altogether by arranging for the rides *first,* before drinking commences.
 

BunnzMcGinty

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Sure sounds like you are making excuses. It really isn't difficult at all. Plan ahead and don't put yourself in that position. As has been said this was easily avoidable! No reason for anyone to put themselves in that situation but especially someone like Ruggs with all the resources he has available to him.

Someone has lost their life because he couldn't be bothered.
Agreed. I was a fall-down drunk for years but I never got behind the wheel drunk and I sure as shit never killed anyone.
 

Deathofthebambino

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The flaw in this thought is that one living in Vegas can avoid the "conversation" altogether by arranging for the rides *first,* before drinking commences.
This is exactly right. I go out with friends very, very often. I drink on those nights about 100% of the time (mainly Fridays), most of the time after leaving the golf course. Here is what we all do. We don't fucking drive to the golf course in the first place. Because invariably, if someone drives to the place of drinking, they will believe they are ok to drive their car home, because they need their car in the morning, or they are afraid their car will be stolen or or or..... And then we have to stop them and it works out. We joke "If you removed the headlights from our cars, it wouldn't make a difference, because we rarely drive at night." It's like a $15 Uber ride to anywhere. If you're going out for drinks, leave your damn car at home, so you aren't drunkenly convincing yourself you're ok to drive 6 hours later.

I liked Ruggs, and thought he had a pretty good career ahead of him, just terrible decision-making that cost an innocent person their life.
 

Marciano490

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Not that the NFL cares about precedent, but didn’t Leonard Little do the same and the return to the league?
 

Cellar-Door

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Not that the NFL cares about precedent, but didn’t Leonard Little do the same and the return to the league?
It was Missouri so he only did 60 days in jail. If Ruggs is allowed to plead to vehicular manslaughter he'd get under a year and might be back next year.
 

Marciano490

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I think if he pleas out, pays off the family and doesn’t have a record, he could get away with minimal jail time. I’d like to think we take DUIs more seriously than we did 20 years ago, but I’m not sure he even hits the statutory minimum here.
 

BigSoxFan

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I know he’s young, wealthy and all that but staying up all night and then practicing has to be difficult. Raiders are 5-2 and leading their division and he’s out partying all night early in the week. Coaches can’t be too pleased even when you strip out the tragedy of the accident . Have to wonder what % of the league is like this during the season during non-bye weeks.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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Not that the NFL cares about precedent, but didn’t Leonard Little do the same and the return to the league?
Donte Stallworth had a blood alcohol level of .12 when he killed someone. He plead guilty (though there are stories that he very well could have gotten off but he didn't want to put the family thru that). This was in Florida and he served 24 days of a 30 day sentence. Settled out of court with the family and was suspended for the 2009 season. He did come back... But played in just 20 games the next 3 seasons.
 

Gunfighter 09

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I know he’s young, wealthy and all that but staying up all night and then practicing has to be difficult. Raiders are 5-2 and leading their division and he’s out partying all night early in the week. Coaches can’t be too pleased even when you strip out the tragedy of the accident . Have to wonder what % of the league is like this during the season during non-bye weeks.
This was the last day off of the Raiders bye week.

As for what Ruggs was doing, quite a few people on Raiders twitter have said that he was at Top Golf. Which, crazy enough is the same Top Golf Josh Jacobs was at before his DUI arrest earlier this year. We know (based on reputable reporting by journalists) he was there with his long term girlfriend who is the mother of his daughter and was injured in the crash.
 

BigSoxFan

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This was the last day off of the Raiders bye week.

As for what Ruggs was doing, quite a few people on Raiders twitter have said that he was at Top Golf. Which, crazy enough is the same Top Golf Josh Jacobs was at before his DUI arrest earlier this year. We know (based on reputable reporting by journalists) he was there with his long term girlfriend who is the mother of his daughter and was injured in the crash.
They had off days on Mon and Tue the week of a road cross country matchup? I figured they would maybe get Monday off but not Tuesday since they already had last week off. But I’m obviously not up to speed with how NFL teams operate their bye weeks.

In any event, Top Golf closes at midnight and the accident was at 3:40am so clearly the fun was continued elsewhere. Just too bad that they both made such a bad decision that cost an innocent person their life.
 

Marciano490

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They had off days on Mon and Tue the week of a road cross country matchup? I figured they would maybe get Monday off but not Tuesday since they already had last week off. But I’m obviously not up to speed with how NFL teams operate their bye weeks.

In any event, Top Golf closes at midnight and the accident was at 3:40am so clearly the fun was continued elsewhere. Just too bad that they both made such a bad decision that cost an innocent person their life.
It’s possible they stay open late for celebs or after parties.
 

Shelterdog

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They had off days on Mon and Tue the week of a road cross country matchup? I figured they would maybe get Monday off but not Tuesday since they already had last week off. But I’m obviously not up to speed with how NFL teams operate their bye weeks.

In any event, Top Golf closes at midnight and the accident was at 3:40am so clearly the fun was continued elsewhere. Just too bad that they both made such a bad decision that cost an innocent person their life.
Tuesday is the normal day off in the NFL (Monday off depends on the team/week). Nothing unusual about that
 

Swedgin

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Donte Stallworth had a blood alcohol level of .12 when he killed someone. He plead guilty (though there are stories that he very well could have gotten off but he didn't want to put the family thru that). This was in Florida and he served 24 days of a 30 day sentence. Settled out of court with the family and was suspended for the 2009 season. He did come back... But played in just 20 games the next 3 seasons.
In Stallworth's case the guy was a pedestrian crossing a highway. My recollection of the footage that was released at the time was that a stone cold sober driver could not have avoided the decedent. From the news reports, Ruggs rear-ended a Rav4 with his Corvette, causing the other driver's car to burst into flames and killing her. Unless, there is video evidence showing she suddenly cut him off, he's doing time. Also worth remembering, the crimes he has been charged with so far, are not the only ones on the table.

FWIW, Ruggs fame and wealth probably work against him in these circumstances.
 

singaporesoxfan

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In Stallworth's case the guy was a pedestrian crossing a highway. My recollection of the footage that was released at the time was that a stone cold sober driver could not have avoided the decedent. From the news reports, Ruggs rear-ended a Rav4 with his Corvette, causing the other driver's car to burst into flames and killing her. Unless, there is video evidence showing she suddenly cut him off, he's doing time. Also worth remembering, the crimes he has been charged with so far, are not the only ones on the table.

FWIW, Ruggs fame and wealth probably work against him in these circumstances.
According to this screenshot of the police report, Ruggs was in the center lane and the driver was in the right lane, and Ruggs veered into her lane.
View: https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1455677724283088906?s=20


By the way, if TopGolf served him alcohol and he got into the crash following that, are they liable in any way? Does it matter if there was an intervening gap of a few hours? (I don't know the first thing about legal liability for businesses serving alcohol)
 

HomeRunBaker

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By the way, if TopGolf served him alcohol and he got into the crash following that, are they liable in any way? Does it matter if there was an intervening gap of a few hours? (I don't know the first thing about legal liability for businesses serving alcohol)
In many (most?) states, Yes.
In Nevada, No.
 

SMU_Sox

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My 1L legal writing first semester prompt was exactly that kind of question. Flashbacks triggered.
 

Shelterdog

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My 1L legal writing first semester prompt was exactly that kind of question. Flashbacks triggered.
Wait you're also a lawyer?

Jesus I thought better of you.

EDIT: By the way I've told lawyer friends tales of one of my interweb friends (Scho) becoming a QB pundit and kind of moving on from the law and they view it with awe; are you making a simialr transistion?
 

Bowhemian

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Holy shit, 156mph on a city street. That's insanity on a highway, insanity x10 on a city street. even at 3AM.
Driving drunk + loaded gun + girlfriend in car + insane speeds = not a good dude.