NFL
By: Brock Vierra
A little bit of a disclaimer but I wear many hats to support myself and my family. One of those hats is that I am a cab driver here in Las Vegas. I work full time, am a member of the union and I take great pride in my job. I enjoy my job, I enjoy serving my customers and I enjoy the hustle. Something that may not be known about cab drivers is that we don’t have hourly wages so we rely on our percentage from rides and tips to feed our families, thus getting as many rides during our shifts is critical to our financial success.
On Sunday, February 28, I worked my shift. It was my Friday so I was looking forward to making some money and going home to my girlfriend. The Las Vegas Marathon also took place during my shift, blocking access to Las Vegas Boulevard so I was limited to working on whatever side of the strip I so happened to be on because it would be a pain to get to the other side, especially with the lack of access and the increased traffic on the routes that were opened.
I had just finished dropping a couple off at The Strat and when I drop there, I like to travel on Las Vegas Boulevard to the Encore Hotel. Since this route was blocked, I went a back route on Sammy Davis Jr Drive towards Resorts World. As I reached the left-hand turn on Goh Tong Way which provides access to the resort, the light was red. Eventually, my side turned green with the arrow giving me unrestricted access to the turn. I checked oncoming traffic, then the crosswalk of the entrance. All clear. I began my turn with my eyes on the crosswalk in case anyone came out of nowhere, seemingly protected from oncoming traffic due to their red light. I was wrong.
A car sped through the red light right toward me. Not they accelerated on a yellow, not just turned red but fully blown through the red light. I saw this out of my peripherals, slammed my brakes, quickly turned to the right, and was barely able to get my cab in the side lane while this car sped through the middle. I eventually made it inside the resort, I took some time to clear my mind, calmed my heart rate, and continued on with my shift. I eventually finished and returned home to my girlfriend. I’m okay, I’m not shaken up and I will drive my next shift but the only reason I’m allowed to do that is through quick, mindless intervention from my physical body and my guardian angels watching out for me.
Should A Team Sign Henry Ruggs
Had I gone right when I had a green light, I would’ve been hit and quite frankly, I might not be here anymore. I was lucky. Tina Tintor wasn’t. Tina Tintor was a Serbian woman who was on the verge of acquiring her U.S. citizenship when Henry Ruggs killed her with his car. Ruggs made the conscientious decision to consume alcohol, get behind the wheel of his own vehicle, travel at ungodly speeds and thus hitting Tintor’s RAV4. This occurred on Rainbow Boulevard, a route in Vegas commonly used and isn’t meant for cars to go 80mph let alone the alleged 156 that Ruggs was traveling at. Rainbow Boulevard has a stop light at roughly every 100 feet but Henry Ruggs didn’t care. She didn’t die instantly, she burned to death and the only reason Ruggs isn’t behind bars is that his trial has yet to start.
Henry Ruggs killed her and despite the fact it wasn’t intentional, his actions had every intention of being harmful and destructive. Henry Ruggs may get off from this with limited punishment and the fact he’s only 24 means that there’s a good chance he’ll be able to play football again upon the conclusion of his trial and/ or sentence. The NFL is always an option and leagues like the CFL, XFL, USFL, and FCF could be potential outlets as well. He doesn’t deserve that privilege. He doesn’t deserve to play again or to make money from it again.
I got the privilege of going home the other night. It was a privilege as it was almost taken away from me, just like it was taken away from Tintor. We have no right to our lives and as sad as it may seem, a right isn’t taken away easily like how easily the lives of car accident victims are taken every day. To play and be paid to play professional football is a privilege. It can be gained and taken away easily and Ruggs threw his away just like he threw away the life of Tina Tintor.
I’m sure he regrets what he did but no woulda, coulda, shoulda is gonna fix what he did just like it wouldn’t have changed what could’ve happened to me if not for a few angels in the outfield. The NFL has been very selective about who they punish. Look at Ray Rice versus Kareem Hunt. However, the NFL will look the other way if you’re a playmaker, and Henry Ruggs’ on-field speed makes him such.
Do the right thing football. It’s an easy thing to do. Just do what you do best and if/ when he attempts a comeback, look the other way. Even though it seems like this is the easy thing to do, in pro football the easy thing to do is never the thing that gets done.
