New sheriff’s office body camera footage shows the moments after golf legend Tiger Woods was involved in a rollover crash in Florida that led to his DUI arrest last week.
“I looked down at my phone and all the sudden, boom,” Woods says in one of the video clips released Thursday.
The footage shows Woods with his arms crossed and down on one knee after authorities responded to the Jupiter Island crash on Friday afternoon.
Woods, who’s wearing a blue polo, backwards cap and sunglasses, is checked out by a deputy who tells him a medic will check him out further.
A Martin County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit said Woods, who was driving a Land Rover, tried to go around a pickup truck pulling a trailer when he hit the trailer, lost control and flipped his SUV.
The footage shows the Land Rover on its side, as authorities speak with the driver of the pickup.
“You sure you’re alright boss?” the driver is asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine, it was so like crazy,” he responds.
Authorities said Woods was able to crawl out of the Land Rover, and neither he nor the driver of the pickup were injured.
“I inquired about the collision, to which Woods stated he was looking down at his cell phone and changing the radio station and did not notice the vehicle in front of him had slowed down,” a deputy wrote in the affidavit.
The deputy wrote that while speaking with Woods they “observed several signs of impairment” and began a DUI investigation.
Woods was “sweating profusely” while sitting in the back of a vehicle with cool air flowing, his “movement was lethargic and slow” and he was “extremely alert during the investigation” but the deputy wrote they were unable to look at his eyes since he was wearing sunglasses, the affidavit said.
Woods agreed to perform field sobriety exercises but he was limping and appeared to have a leg injury, and when he was asked if he has any medical conditions Woods said he’s had seven back surgeries and over 20 operations on his leg, the affidavit said.
A deputy asked Woods to remove his sunglasses and the deputy wrote in the affidavit that his eyes were “bloodshot and glassy” and his pupils were extremely dilated.
Woods was asked if he’d had any alcohol and he replied “none,” and was asked if he consumed any prescription medication and he said “I take a few,” the affidavit said.
Woods said he took prescription medication in the morning but said he hadn’t had any illegal substances, the affidavit said.
The golfer was given a test to follow the tip of a pen but the deputy noted a “lack of smooth pursuit in both eyes” and wrote that Woods continuously moved his head from side to side and had to be told several times to keep his head straight, the affidavit said.
Woods performed other tests including touching the tip of his nose but apparently not good enough for the deputy.
“Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” the deputy wrote in the affidavit.
Woods was told he was under arrest and searched, and two white pills were found in his pants pocket that “identifying marks revealed to be Hydrocodone,” the affidavit said.
He was brought to jail and agreed to provide a breath test that showed no alcohol but when he was requested to give a urine test he refused, the affidavit said.
Woods was taken to a hospital and medically discharged then brought back to jail. He later bonded out.
He faces charges of DUI with property damage and refusing to submit to a DUI test. Court records filed Tuesday showed he’s pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Woods posted a statement Tuesday night saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”
A motion filed Wednesday by his attorney, Douglas Duncan, asked a judge that Woods be allowed to travel outside the country to begin “comprehensive inpatient treatment.”
Duncan said the recommendation from Woods’ doctor was based on the golfer’s “complex clinical presentation and the urgent need for a level of care that cannot safely or effectively be done within the United States as his privacy has been repeatedly compromised.
“Ongoing medical scrutiny and public exposure create significant barriers to his care and would result in setbacks and an inability to fully engage in treatment.”
Martin County Court Judge Darren Steele approved the motion, which did not say where the inpatient treatment facility was located.
Woods sought treatment at an inpatient facility in Mississippi clinic in January 2010 after he was caught in a series of extramarital affairs, and his agent said he sought treatment at another inpatient clinic after his 2017 DUI arrest.
“I’m committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally,” Woods said in his statement.
0 Comments