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Henry Ruggs III is playing his second season with the Las Vegans Raiders
Photo: Rick Scuteri / dpa
Henry Ruggs III wanted to show everyone.
The pass recipient entered the North American professional football league NFL in 2020.
The Las Vegas Raiders selected him in the first round of the draft.
This honor is only given to the most talented players.
In his second season, the 22-year-old showed his qualities, already after the seventh game day he gained more space with captured throws than in the entire previous season.
With his team, Ruggs was on the way to the play-offs, for the first time in five years.
A woman's life came to an abrupt end on Tuesday morning on a street a few miles from the Las Vegas Strip - and so did the career of Henry Ruggs III.
Ruggs raced his Corvette into the rear of a Toyota at around 3:40 a.m.
The car went up in flames, the driver and her dog were killed, the police said.
Ruggs and his co-driver were injured, the NFL star showed, according to the police report, "signs of impairment", only known as "DUI" (Driving Under Influence) in the USA.
According to the public prosecutor's office, a blood alcohol level of 1.61 per mille was found, and there was also a loaded weapon in the car.
Ruggs was first examined in the hospital and then arrested.
The allegations are: driving under the influence of alcohol, resulting in death and reckless driving.
The state of Nevada has up to 20 years imprisonment for the first offense alone; parole is not an option.
On the way to becoming a superstar
Ruggs was a player on the verge of becoming an upcoming superstar in the NFL.
In the corona crisis, he donated lunch for the needy, together with Adidas he designed a shoe that reads "HRIII".
Anyway, the number three plays an important role in Rugg's life: his childhood friend Roderic Scott wore the number three on his basketball shirt.
At the age of 17, Scott died in a car accident of all places.
After touchdowns, Ruggs pointed three fingers in the air in his honor.
Showed.
Past.
The win over the Philadelphia Eagles on October 24th could have been Rugg's final NFL game.
His lawyers said that one should wait to form a judgment until all the facts were gathered.
Ruggs' club, but the Raiders did not wait: That evening, the franchise announced that they had sacked him.
After the scandal surrounding their former head coach, the raiders who had just come to rest had apparently seen enough.
Jon Gruden had sent emails with racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments prior to his time as Head Coach in Las Vegas.
The "New York Times" presented, among other things, mails in which Gruden referred to the commissioner of the NFL, Roger Godell, as "fagot" and "pussy".
Jon Gruden resigned and his assistant took over on an interim basis.
That was just three weeks ago.
Without a trainer, without a star receiver
Gruden and Ruggs - both should make the franchise a success.
Hardly any player in the NFL was faster than Ruggs, more and more Gruden adapted the tactics of his team to him.
Quarterback Derek Carr was throwing passes at Ruggs more and more often, the defenders couldn't keep up with him anyway.
Now the Raiders have five wins and two losses, but have lost their coach and star receiver.
After the inglorious end in Oakland, they finally dreamed of making it into the Super Bowl again - for the first time since 2002. After that, they only reached the play-offs once.
The franchise only moved to Las Vegas in 2020, the new Allegiant Stadium looks like a space capsule and cost almost two billion dollars.
The demands on the team have been huge since the move.
So was the anticipation for the rest of the season.
On Sunday, Ruggs uploaded a picture on Instagram.
"I'll see you next week," he wrote when the Raiders compete with the New York Giants.
But Ruggs won't be there.
With material from AP and DPA
