LAS VEGAS (KLAS)-– Friends of Tina Tintor shared more about her life with 8 News Now after she was killed in a fiery crash involving former Raider Henry Ruggs III Tuesday.
“She’s brilliant, she’s smart, she’s intelligent,” Tina’s childhood friend Bojana Filipovic said about her. “She is very charismatic.”
Filipovic said she was with the 23-year-old just a short time before the collision, adding that the two were coming home from a late-night walk with Tina’s dog, who also died in the crash.
“Her mom was calling me crying,” Filipovic recalled. “Like ‘hey, can you check if that’s her car,’ she wasn’t coming home.”
It’s an outcome she never could have imagined, and police are now shedding light on what led up to the crash.
Investigators said Ruggs was traveling 156 miles per hour before he slammed into Tina’s SUV, and cited his blood alcohol level at 0.161, which is twice the legal limit.
Records obtained by the 8 News Now I-Team describe Ruggs as uncooperative and incoherent at the hospital; yelling, slurring his speech, and trying to remove an IV from his arm.
Now, as Bojana tries to move forward, she said she will always remember Tina’s light.
“She’s always wanted the good for everybody,” Filipovic said of her friend.
She added that the bond they shared will last forever.
“I love you very much,” she concluded, speaking to Tina. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
Bojana told 8 News Now that Tina immigrated to The US from Serbia when she was around five years old.
She said Tina loved animals, was a Durango High School graduate and hoped to go into the computer science programming field.
