The former Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III was charged on Wednesday with four felonies and a misdemeanor for his role in a crash last week in Las Vegas that killed a woman.
Ruggs, 22, did not appear at the hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court, where he was formally charged with two counts of driving under the influence causing death or substantial harm. He was also charged with two counts of reckless driving, which is considered a felony in Nevada if it results in death or physical injury.
Steve Wolfson, the Clark County district attorney, told reporters after the hearing that the additional felony counts were added because the passenger in Ruggs’s car, his girlfriend, Kiara Washington, was injured.
Ruggs did not enter a plea on Wednesday.
Each D.U.I. count is punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine of $2,000 to $5,000. Each reckless driving count carries a penalty of one to six years in prison and a fine in the same amount. If Ruggs is convicted of the D.U.I. charges, Wolfson’s office said, he must be sentenced to prison — he cannot receive probation.
Ruggs was also charged with possessing a gun while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a misdemeanor punishable in Nevada by a maximum of six months in prison or up to $1,000 in fines, or both.
One of Ruggs’s lawyers, David Chesnoff, did not take questions after the hearing from reporters but urged the public not to prejudge the facts in the case and “to let them do their work in the courtroom.”
The collision occurred, the police said, on Nov. 2 around 3:40 a.m. when the sports car Riggs was driving slammed into an S.U.V. The fire department was called to the scene, the police said, where it found Tina Tintor, 23, dead in her vehicle. Her dog was also killed. According to the district attorney’s office, Ruggs had been driving as fast as 156 miles per hour. After his initial court appearance, on Nov. 3., Wolfson told reporters that Ruggs’s blood alcohol level was 0.16, or twice Nevada’s legal limit.
The Raiders released Ruggs on Nov. 2.
