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Henry Ruggs crash: Tina Tintor was still breathing when a witness tried to cut her seat belt

Tony Rodriguez said he was one of the first witnesses at the scene of the accident but he couldn't save the woman because the fire spread too quick

A witness of the car crash involving former Las Vegas Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III has revealed how he desperately tried to pry the woman who died from her car but the fire was just too much to handle.

Speaking to KTNV, Tony Rodriguez said he was one of the first witnesses at the scene of the accident several miles west of the Las Vegas Strip at about 3.30 am. Rodriguez was hoping to rescue the woman, identified as 23-year-old Tina Tintor, but the blaze spread quickly and she was trapped in her 2013 Toyota RAV4.

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"I thought for sure we were going to be able to do something. The fire was so small at the time," said Rodriguez. "It just grew fast. Really fast. There was one person with a fire extinguisher, a county worker, that didn’t work. It wasn’t enough. It was just so fast."

The witness said that the victim was still breathing at the time. "Everything we tried just wasn’t working. The fire just grew so fast," he said. "She was actually still alive. You could hear her breathing. She had her seat belt on and I was trying to cut that away. Trying to grab them by their shoulders and pull them out but that wasn’t working. They were pinned. The seat belt was on, the airbags were in the way and the door was jammed."

Rodriguez was referring to Tintor and her pet dog, who also died in the crash. Ruggs was subsequently released by the Raiders hours before an initial court appearance on multiple felony charges. Prosecutors said the NFL star was driving his 2020 Corvette at 156 mph 2.5 seconds prior to the crash and the car slowed to 127 mph when the airbag deployed. According to Fox 5 Vegas, Ruggs had a blood alcohol level of 0.161 which is over twice the legal limit in the state of Nevada.

The perpetrator's lawyers described him as a "great teammate and community member" before he posted $150K bail and was released from custody. Rodriguez, who told KTNV it was "nice to have all that money" referring to the bail, sent a message to Tintor's family saying witnesses at the scene tried everything they could to save her. "I haven’t slept since the accident," he said. "It’s horrific. It’s sad that somebody could be going that fast and cause that accident like that. I’m sorry." 

Tintor, 23, was a Durango High School graduate and planned to study computer programming. She was described by her friend Bojana Filipovic as brilliant, intelligent, and extremely charismatic. Filipovic placed and lit several candles to honor her pal at a Spring Valley intersection on November 3. "She'd give you a shoulder to lean on, and she'll always slap sense into you if you do something wrong," Filipovic told Fox 5 with a laugh as she remembered the sweet moments they spent together. "I love you very much. I wish I got to say goodbye, and I'll see you in the next life," she added