Tiger Woods was driving at an excessive speed before he crashed his vehicle in February, but authorities don’t know if he was conscious when he lost control of his vehicle that day, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Wednesday.
Sheriff Alex Vilanueva said Woods was traveling more than 82-mph in a 45-mph zone and instead of braking was actually accelerating prior to impact, according to data received from the black box recorder of Woods’ loaner Genesis SUV.
Woods will not be cited for a traffic violation, said Villanueva, who received permission from Woods to release the crash investigation details.
The famed golfer broke bones in his right leg during the crash Feb. 23 in Rolling Hills Estates, south of downtown Los Angeles. He underwent surgery and announced on Twitter March 16 that he was recovering from home after being released from the hospital.
One of those experts is Jonathan Cherney, a former police detective who walked the scene after the crash. He said it was “like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight.”
Instead of staying with his downhill lane as it curved right, Woods kept going left, struck the eight-inch curb of the median, hit a large wooden sign, kept going through the median, then went into opposing traffic lanes and off the road before going through extensive vegetation, hitting a tree and rolling over.
His vehicle traveled an estimated 400 feet after leaving his lane and hitting the median. If he had been conscious, the theory is that there would be some evidence of braking or steering, the experts said. There were no skid marks on the road, Villanueva said. Even with anti-lock brakes, experts said there could be faint skid marks. After striking a curb and hitting a large sign in the median, the theory is that a driver would try to correct the error and get out of the emergency by driving back onto the road and braking.
Woods, 45, instead kept going and going in a fairly straight direction with no signs of slowing down. He then told first responders that he didn’t remember how the accident occurred and didn’t remember driving.
The sheriff’s department also did not seek blood evidence from him, saying he appeared lucid at the scene of the crash and that there were no signs of impairment to warrant a blood examination. Villanueva first stressed that the crash was “purely an accident” while his department also emphasized that the road Woods had been driving on was known for accidents and speeding.
After obtaining the data, Villanueva offered some clarification on March 17 when he said there were no “obvious” signs of impairment. He then went on to talk about “lessons learned” and said, “I can tell you this: We do need more drug-recognition experts within the department.”
Drug-recognition experts (DRE) are law enforcement officers trained to recognize signs of impairment that are not obvious. After a crash, they go through a 12-step process to evaluate a driver for impairment and can request a blood examination. No DRE was used in the Woods case because Villanueva said then that it wasn’t necessary.
“We can’t just assume that somebody’s history makes them guilty,” sheriff’s deputy John Schloegl told USA TODAY Sports March 2.
In 2009, Woods was cited for careless driving after crashing into a tree and fire hydrant outside his mansion in Florida. He was found unconscious at the scene and a witness then said Woods had been prescribed the sleep medication Ambien and the painkiller Vicodin, according to a police report.
In 2017, he was found asleep at the wheel in Florida and arrested for drunken driving. A toxicology report later showed he had Ambien, Vicodin, THC and other medications in his system. He checked into a clinic after that to get help dealing with medication for pain and a sleep disorder. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday the cause of Tiger Woods’ February car crash has been determined and the investigation has concluded, but he needs Woods’ permission to release the report.
California law restricts access to full crash reports to only certain involved parties.
Woods, who suffered broken bones in his right leg, announced March 16 on Twitter that he was back home. Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, didn’t return a message from USA TODAY Sports seeking comment.
“You have an accident and you have deliberate acts,” Villanueva said on a Facebook livestream session in response to a question from USA TODAY Sports. “It’s an accident, OK. We’re reaching out to Tiger Woods to be able to release the report itself, and nothing has changed from what we know and what we learned throughout the course of the investigation. And everything we did turned out to be accurate.”
The sheriff otherwise has not released detailed findings from his department’s investigation into the crash Feb. 23 in Rolling Hills Estates, south of downtown Los Angeles.
Villanueva’s response Wednesday differed from what he said about the crash investigation on March 17.
“Yes, we’ll have the full thing released, and we’ll do a full press conference and that, because I know there’s going to be a lot of questions and we’ll pick it apart,” Villanueva said then.
Forensic car crash reconstruction experts differ with Villanueva on describing crashes as accidents simply because they are not “deliberate.” For example, drunk-driving crashes could be considered “accidents” in a broad sense because they are not deliberate. By their narrower definition, true accidents are rare because crashes typically have real causes, such as negligence of the driver, even if it’s not on purpose.
In this case, forensic experts say the evidence suggests Woods was not conscious when he left his lane and kept going in a straight line before crashing. Instead of staying with the downhill road as it curved right, he went straight over the curb in the median to the left, hit a wooden sign and kept going in a straight line into opposing traffic lanes before leaving the road, hitting a tree and rolling over.
Jonathan Cherney, an accident reconstruction expert and former police detective who walked the scene, told USA TODAY Sports it was “like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight.”
There were no skid marks on the road, Villanueva said. Instead, Woods’ Genesis SUV kept going straight for several hundred feet. Woods later told sheriff’s deputies he couldn’t remember how the crash occurred and didn’t remember even driving.
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After the crash, the sheriff’s department executed a search warrant to obtain data from the vehicle’s black box, which could show how fast he was going and any braking or steering activity. Asked by USA TODAY Sports on March 17 what he learned from the black box, the sheriff replied, “We learned a few things, which is important,” but he didn’t elaborate.
He said then there were no “obvious” signs of impairment by Woods on the crash scene that day. He went on to talk about “lessons learned” and said, “We do need more drug-recognition experts within the department.” Such drug-recognition experts (DREs) are trained officers who evaluate drivers for signs of impairment that aren’t obvious. DREs then can request a blood examination for evidence of drug use.
Woods was not evaluated by a DRE that day, and his blood was not examined because the deputies determined Woods was lucid and said it was not necessary.
Woods was found unconscious at the scene of two previous driving incidents. One was in 2009, when a witness found him snoring in his vehicle after hitting a fire hydrant and tree outside his mansion in Florida. A police report from then noted Woods had been prescribed the sleep medication Ambien and the painkiller Vicodin, according to a witness.
In 2017, police in Florida found him asleep at the wheel and arrested him on suspicion of drunken driving. A toxicology report later found several drugs in his system, including Ambien, Vicodin and THC.
Woods checked into a clinic that year to get help with medications for pain and a sleep disorder.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that Tiger Woods did not receive special treatment from law enforcement after his crash.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that Tiger Woods did not receive special treatment from law enforcement after he crashed his SUV last month but noted some “lessons learned” as the crash investigation nears completion in coming weeks.
Villanueva also said the golf legend showed no “obvious” signs of impairment at the scene of the crash Feb. 23, an adjective he hadn’t stressed before when discussing how Woods was evaluated that day by deputies.
The sheriff then switched to the topic of drug-recognition experts and “lessons learned from every incident.” Drug-recognition experts (DRE) are officers specially trained to detect impairment in drivers after crashes especially when it is not obvious. Woods was not evaluated by a DRE after the crash because Villanueva said then there wasn’t a need for it.
“For anybody suggesting he somehow received any different treatment than anybody else, he did not,” Villanueva said this week when asked by USA TODAY Sports for an update on the case. “I can tell you this: We do need more drug-recognition experts within the department. We need to hire more, but then again, that costs money. We need to train more. We’re going to be training with the resources we have to increase our pool of available DRE experts.
“And that’s something that obviously, lessons learned from every incident and how can we can apply what we learned to future events and to make ourselves more, a better organization and more effective?” he said. “And those are one of the things we’re going to be doing.”
Drug-recognition experts use a 12-step process to evaluate for impairment, including questioning the driver about medications, checking the eyes and vital signs, often at a location removed from the crash scene, such as at a hospital. If they think a driver is impaired with drugs, they can request an examination of the driver’s blood.
In this case, none of that happened because there was no call for a DRE by the sheriff’s department, leading forensic crash experts contacted by USA TODAY Sports to question why not, given the evidence on the scene at the time.
While it is not uncommon for crash victims to suffer head injuries and not remember the moments of impact, Woods was wearing a seatbelt and his airbags deployed. A sheriff’s deputy noted Woods had “injuries/lacerations” to his face and broken bones in his right leg but did not mention head injuries. Sheriff’s officials also described Woods as alert and “lucid” at the scene upon their arrival.
Villanueva added on Wednesday they were concerned for Woods’ health in the absence of obvious impairment or other victims.
“Our concern shifts to the humanitarian, you know life-preservation, those kinds of things, and the accident becomes secondary,” he said.
A vehicle rests on its side after a rollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, in Rancho Palos Verdes, California (Photo: Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)
The key time to establish the need for a toxicology report on Woods was shortly after the crash, experts said. Woods, 45, was driving on a downhill road at around 7 a.m. that Tuesday, but instead of staying with his lane as it curved right, his Genesis SUV went straight over the curb into the median and hit a sign. Then he kept going straight through the median and into opposing traffic lanes before leaving the road, hitting a tree and rolling over in Rolling Hills Estates, south of downtown Los Angeles.
He traveled about 400 feet since hitting the median, in a straight line. If he had been awake and distracted or even slightly asleep, experts said they would have expected to see evidence of his immediate reaction, such as deceleration, braking and steering back onto the road.
But there were no skid marks on the road to suggest braking, which happens even with anti-lock brakes. Instead, Woods just kept going and going in a straight line for some 400 feet despite being in the middle of an emergency. Jonathan Cherney, a crash expert and former police detective who walked the scene, told USA TODAY Sports it was “like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight.”
Cherney and other forensic experts contacted by USA TODAY Sports are not involved in the sheriff’s investigation.
A vehicle rests on its side after a rollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, in Rancho Palos Verdes, California (Photo: Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)
After the crash, the sheriff’s department executed a search warrant to obtain data from the vehicle’s black box, which could show how fast he was going and any braking or steering activity. Asked by USA TODAY Sports Wednesday what he learned from the black box, the sheriff replied, “We learned a few things, which is important.”
Before this crash, Woods was found unconscious at the wheel in two prior driving incidents. The first was in 2009, when a witness found him unconscious and snoring in his SUV after hitting a tree and fire hydrant outside his mansion in Florida. He was cited then for careless driving.
In 2017, police found him asleep at the wheel in Florida on Memorial Day. After police arrested him on suspicion of drunken driving, a toxicology report later revealed he had the sleep medication Ambien in his system, as well as other medicines, including Vicodin. Woods then checked into a clinic to get help with medications for pain and a sleep disorder. He also pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
In this case, his injuries from the crash kept him in the hospital for about three weeks. He announced on Twitter Tuesday that he was “back home.” He thanked his surgeons, doctors, nurses and hospital staff.
“I will be recovering at home and working on getting stronger every day,” Woods said in that statement.
Villanueva indicated Wednesday the investigation is almost over.
“In the next few weeks we’re going to have the entire thing completed,” he said.
“Happy to report that I am back home and continuing my recovery,” the statement read. “I am so grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement that I have received over the past few weeks.”
Woods went on to thank the staff of doctors who have helped him throughout his recovery and finished by saying, “I will be recovering at home and working on getting stronger every day.”
In the early stages of their investigation into why Tiger Woods crashed his car on Feb. 23, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials made critical decisions that were favorable to Woods and effectively gave him the benefit of the doubt, according to forensic experts.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced that day that his deputies “did not see any evidence of impairment” with the golf legend after they found him trapped in his rolled-over SUV.
A day later, Villanueva declared the crash was “purely an accident” and said there had been no need to bring in a drug-recognition expert to evaluate Woods for impairment shortly after the car wreck.
There was no “drug recognition expert needed to respond to do any further assessment of that,” Villanueva said Feb. 24. “This is what it is: an accident.”
But the available evidence in the case indicates Woods was inattentive or asleep when his vehicle went straight into a median instead of staying with his lane as it curved right, multiple forensic experts told USA TODAY Sports. Woods also told deputies twice that he didn’t remember how the crash occurred and didn’t even remember driving after surviving the crash with broken bones in his right leg.
Such clues, including the lack of braking evidence on the road, have led experts to question two particular sheriff-department decisions as the investigation remains ongoing:
• To frame the crash as an “accident” right away. Hours after the crash, the sheriff and the deputy who responded to the 911 call both emphasized the downhill road as a potential cause.
• To not bring in a drug-recognition expert (DRE), a law enforcement officer who is trained to identify clues of impairment and determine whether the driver should have his blood examined for medications or other drugs. Calling on a DRE can be routine in serious crash investigations, but it is up to each agency in charge.
Tiger Woods’ vehicle after he was involved in a rollover accident in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on Feb. 23, 2021. Woods had to be extricated from the wreck by Los Angeles County firefighters, and is currently hospitalized.
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“LASD is not releasing any further information at this time,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement Friday. “The traffic collision investigation is ongoing and traffic investigators continue to work to determine the cause of the collision.”
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, didn’t return a message seeking comment.
Accident reconstruction experts said Woods’ inability to remember driving at all was reason enough to bring in a DRE, if only to be thorough in the investigation.
“Exactly, exactly,” said Charles Schack, a former New Hampshire state police trooper who is now president of Crash Experts, which analyzes traffic accidents for law firms and insurance companies. “I would have thought that you would have him evaluated by a DRE to see whether or not there are some physical clues beyond the operation that would point to impairment. To an untrained person, sometimes the effects are a bit more subtle, and require a bit more in-depth examination to bring out the evidence of impairment.”
DREs don’t automatically call for blood to be examined. They instead make a determination of whether it’s necessary at the end of a 12-step process. That protocol can take place away from the crash scene, and it includes questioning the driver about medications and examining the driver’s eyes and vital signs.
A day after the crash, Villanueva gave the following reason for not bringing a DRE into the Woods case a day earlier:
“The deputy at the scene assessed the condition of Tiger Woods and there was no evidence of any impairment whatsoever,” Villanueva said. “He was lucid, no odor of alcohol, no evidence of any medication, narcotics or anything like that would bring that into question. So that was not a concern at the time. So therefore, obviously no field sobriety test and no DRE.”
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Forensic accident experts say impairment isn’t always obvious to untrained officers and that the evidence in this case shows it to be more than a simple “accident” resulting from momentary inattention or loss of control. Jonathan Cherney, a former police detective who walked the scene after the crash, said the evidence in the Woods case indicates it was “like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight.”
Woods, 45, was heading north at around 7 a.m. that day when his SUV went straight into the median instead of sticking to the road. The vehicle then knocked down a sign, kept going through the median, then went into opposing traffic lane and off of the road before it hit a tree and rolled over. It traveled about 400 feet in a relatively straight line since hitting the median, without evidence of braking on the road or steering input to significantly deviate from the path Woods took after hitting the median.
If he had been looking at his phone for a moment, experts said they would expect to see evidence that he braked or tried to steer out of the median long before that.
“Impaired people have a tendency of crashing, so if you have a situation like this one, where you have a single-vehicle crash, with out-of-the-ordinary type circumstances, that should trigger the first responder to inquire further and to explore impairment as a possible cause of the collision,” said Cherney, an accident reconstructionist in Southern California.
At the scene of the crash, Woods was described as alert but could not walk after breaking bones in his lower right leg. He had to be placed on a backboard before going to the hospital. A sheriff deputy’s affidavit also said he sustained “injuries/lacerations” to his face but did not mention head injuries. Woods was wearing his seatbelt when his airbags were deployed, according to the affidavit. Airbags can cause facial injuries but combine with seatbelts to help prevent head trauma.
Cherney said the fact that Woods twice told deputies he couldn’t remember driving at all “absolutely” is a clue of impairment.
“I do know significant head injuries can cause people to not know what happened or forget what happened,” Cherney said. “The fact that he doesn’t remember driving at all is also indicative and consistent with the objective symptom of impaired driving.”
If a DRE was called in to evaluate Woods at the hospital, a blood examination could have shown whether or not there were any medications or other drugs in his system. If medications or drugs were found in his system, he could have been charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence of drugs.
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But because there was no DRE that day and no blood evidence obtained by the sheriff, it is too late to get access to Woods’ blood and medical reports at the hospital without Woods’ cooperation or a search warrant. In order to get a warrant, the sheriff would need to convince a judge it is necessary at this point and show probable cause that a crime was committed.
“It would seem to me to be difficult to establish the necessary foundation to get a search warrant” now, said Chris Taylor, managing attorney at Taylor & Taylor, a DUI defense specialist in Southern California.
Taylor said this is in part because of all the information lacking from the investigation: a DRE exam, objective symptomology or any admissions by the driver.
Sheriff’s Deputy John Schloegl also told USA TODAY Sports March 2 that the department was not pursuing a warrant for blood evidence because it didn’t have probable cause to get one. “We can’t just assume that somebody’s history makes them guilty,” Schloegl said then.
In 2017, police Woods asleep at the wheel in Florida, where was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. A toxicology report from then showed he had the sleep medication Ambien in his system, among other medications such as Vicodin. In 2009, Woods was involved in another single-car crash with his SUV and was described as unconscious and snoring at the scene by a witness in a police report. Woods was cited for careless driving, but no medical records were obtained by law enforcement.
Cherney noted “impaired driving can happen 24 hours a day” even though many would not expect to see an impaired driver at the early time Woods crashed. For example, the label for Ambien warns about being impaired a day after taking it, unlike alcohol.
DREs generally know this and are trained to look for signs of it. To get a general sense of how they are utilized, USA TODAY Sports contacted California statewide DRE coordinator Glen Glaser, a sergeant with the California Highway Patrol. He declined to discuss the Woods case specifically and instead addressed DRE protocols generally.
“Any time we had any serious crashes where there were major injuries or fatalities, I tried to do evaluations on all the drivers even if we did not suspect impairment, only because it can help out folks down the line,” Glaser said, noting how it helps establish facts for any future legal disputes. “It’s always nice to have somebody do a thorough investigation.”
What if a driver in a crash tells the responding officer he can’t remember driving at all?
“If you were to tell that to the drug recognition expert, ‘Hey, this person doesn’t remember driving or was very incoherent at the scene,’ that would be a clue we’d want to follow up on, because certain drugs have certain effects on the human body,” Glaser said.
Several days after the crash, the sheriff’s department did execute a search warrant to obtain the “black box” data from Woods’ vehicle that could show how fast he was going, plus any braking or steering activity prior to impact. The sheriff’s department has not disclosed any findings from that, however.
The sheriff’s department since has tempered Villanueva’s early assessment that the crash was an accident, saying he only was making a preliminary observation.
“There’s no such thing as an accident from our standpoint,” said Felix Lee of Collision Reconstruction Consulting, a business that is part of the Expert Institute network of expert witnesses for litigation. “It’s ‘What are the contributing factors?’ How can they reach that conclusion already if they don’t know the speed or driver input or anything like that?”
Bringing in a DRE on Feb. 23 also could have ruled out potential contributing factors.
“This is a high-profile crash because of who was involved, even though I would expect he is treated the same as any other person driving the vehicle,” said Schack, the former state trooper. “I would think you would scrutinize things a bit more thoroughly just to ensure, if for no other reason than to rule him out.”
Ambien’s warning label says side effects include “sleep-driving,” described as driving while not fully awake and then not remembering it.
In the early morning hours of Memorial Day in 2017, a police officer in Florida observed a black Mercedes stopped on the road in the right lane with its brake lights on and the right blinker still blinking.
The officer then approached the driver, who was asleep at the wheel and had to be awakened.
The driver said he did not know where he was and acknowledged that he “takes several prescriptions,” according to the police officer’s affidavit. One of the prescription drugs found in his system was the sleep medication zolpidem, which is commonly known as Ambien.
The driver was golf legend Tiger Woods.
Nearly four years later, on Feb. 23, Woods was found off the road in a crashed car by a local resident who said Woods was initially unconscious. A Los Angeles County Sheriff deputy at the scene asked Woods how the crash occurred.
“Driver said he did not know and did not even remember driving,” according to a deputy’s affidavit obtained by USA TODAY Sports. When Woods was asked again later at the hospital, he repeated that he did not know and did not remember driving.
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Despite those statements, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said there was no evidence of Woods being impaired. The sheriff’s department therefore didn’t request blood evidence to check for drug use, prompting another question surrounding the incident: Was this latest crash another case of Woods driving on Ambien?
Experts say the evidence supports that suspicion, including the way they say his vehicle left the road as if he had been asleep at the wheel.
Then there’s his history. After another single-car crash in Florida in 2009, Woods was found unconscious in his SUV and snoring, according to a witness statement in a police report. Woods later acknowledged he used Ambien but didn’t directly answer when asked at a news conference if Ambien played a role in that crash.
The experts contacted by USA TODAY Sports cautioned that they couldn’t draw conclusions yet and that there could be other explanations for what happened, such as other medicines or a medical emergency.
“But I know where you look at the prior conduct and suspect there may be something else here at play,” said Charles Schack, a former New Hampshire state police trooper who is now president of Crash Experts, which analyzes traffic accidents for law firms and insurance companies.
The investigation into the crash on Feb. 23 is still active, though the actual cause may never be known without a toxicology report on Woods.
“We can’t just assume that somebody’s history makes them guilty,” Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy John Schloegl said March 2 when asked by USA TODAY Sports why they weren’t pursuing a search warrant to obtain blood evidence from Woods.
A crane is used to lift a vehicle following a rollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, in the Rancho Palos Verdes suburb of Los Angeles. (Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP)
Schloegl said the sheriff’s department lacked the “probable cause” necessary to obtain approval from a judge for such a warrant. He noted that first responders observed Woods to be alert after he crashed his SUV.
But the fact that Woods was awake on the scene after the crash is not in dispute. Whether he was conscious when his vehicle drifted into the median and off the road is an open question.
Woods, 45, suffered multiple broken bones in his lower right leg, jeopardizing his golf career. Woods was wearing a seatbelt, and “the majority of vehicle airbags had deployed,” according to a deputy’s affidavit sworn on March. 1. The affidavit did not mention any head injuries other than “injuries/lacerations to his face” with blood on his face and chin. Airbags can cause facial injuries but also combine with seat belts to help prevent head trauma.
With Ambien, the warning label says side effects may include “sleep-driving,” which is described as driving while not fully awake and then not remembering it.
“Peer-reviewed scientific research has shown that Ambien usage among drivers has been associated with reports of amnesia, despite remaining interactive with the environment,” said Rami Hashish, principal at the National Biomechanics Institute, which analyzes the cause of accidents. “So the current available evidence may be consistent with ‘sleep-driving.’”
Such sleep-driving is familiar to former police detective Jonathan Cherney, who now works as an accident reconstruction expert in Southern California. He said he has investigated several car crashes in which Ambien was involved.
“I can tell you I do not recall a case where the driver had an independent recollection of what occurred immediately prior to the actual collision itself,” Cherney told USA TODAY Sports. “Now that’s not to say that there are some drivers who may recollect what happened, but I personally do not recall any who were able to provide a detailed description of how a crash occurred.”
Cherney and other car accident reconstruction experts told USA TODAY Sports that the evidence indicates Woods wasn’t paying attention and had a “very delayed response” to the emergency at hand on the morning of Feb. 23 near Rolling Hills Estates.
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Cherney previously said it was “like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight.” Cherney walked the scene after the crash and said he saw no evidence of steering input or braking on the road. The other independent experts cited in this story are not involved in the sheriff’s investigation and are making observations based on the available evidence.
Woods was traveling north on a curved downhill road when his vehicle went straight into the median on the left instead of staying with the road as it curved right. His vehicle, a Genesis GV80, then took out a sign in the median, traveled into opposing traffic lanes, went off the road, hit a tree and rolled over. He traveled about 400 feet after hitting the median, in a relatively straight line, with no apparent evidence of steering input or braking in the form of skid marks.
The evidence didn’t seem to indicate that Woods was merely looking down at his phone momentarily or that he was simply fatigued.
“If a driver falls asleep and strikes a curb or somehow travels off the roadway, typically the jarring of the vehicle is enough to waken the driver, and then the driver makes some sort of reaction or overreaction,” said Schack of Crash Experts, which is part of the Expert Institute, a network that provides expert witnesses in litigation. “There is usually some evidence. If there isn’t, and he continues traveling 400 feet, you would think some sort of reaction would have taken place. … The lack of reaction really goes beyond what you would expect for simple fatigue and you start looking into other factors that may have played a role in this.”
Schack noted that “even with anti-lock brakes, there would be some evidence of braking and deceleration,” such as faint skidding. Villanueva said there were no skid marks.
“I don’t want to hang my hat solely on Ambien,” Schack said. “Certainly, Ambien could have been a factor here.”
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Woods announced in January that he had undergone the latest of several surgical procedures on his back.
In 2017, after Woods was found asleep at the wheel, he was arrested for driving under the influence. In contrast to the recent crash, Woods’ speech at the time of his arrest was slow and slurred. He also failed sobriety tests.
A toxicology report later showed he had Ambien, Vicodin, Xanax, Dilaudid and THC in his system. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving, received one year of probation and was required to complete DUI school. He even checked into a clinic to get help for his use of prescription pain and sleep medications.
Woods made a statement regarding that case in 2017:
“Recently, I had been trying on my own to treat my back pain and a sleep disorder, including insomnia, but I realize now it was a mistake to do this without medical assistance,” he said.
In the 2009 incident outside his mansion in Florida, Woods crashed a Cadillac Escalade into a tree and fire hydrant, giving him a cut lip and sore neck. A neighbor at the scene then reported seeing Woods in the vehicle unconscious and snoring, according to a police report.
The Florida Highway Patrol determined then that there “was insufficient evidence available to issue a subpoena for additional medical information that may exist in this case.”
Woods was cited for careless driving and fined $164.
Woods was asked about his Ambien use several months later when he appeared at a news conference for the Masters Tournament in April 2010.
Question: “Tiger, it’s been reported that you took prescription drugs, Ambien and Vicodin. Can you speak to when you started taking those, how you need them for tournament golf, if you did, and if you ever became addicted to either one of them or received treatment?”
Woods: “I have taken them, yes. I’ve had some, as everyone knows, pretty interesting knee situations over the years. I’ve had, what, four operations now on my left knee? And last year, with my torn Achilles, it hurt quite a bit at times. And, yes, I did take that. And I took, most of the time I was on the Ambien was when my dad was sick.
“When my dad died, that was a tough time in my life. And, you know, so that’s when, yes, I was taking that, some of those things, to help me sleep. And that’s about it.”
He said he had not received treatment for addiction to those drugs.
In another question, Woods was asked if Ambien played a role in the 2009 crash.
“You were described by the witnesses as mumbling, snoring,” a reporter stated.
“Well, the police investigated the accident and they cited me,” Woods replied. “And it’s a closed case.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department personnel confirmed the information on Tuesday to USA TODAY Sports.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has executed a search warrant to obtain data from the “black box” in the car that was crashed last week by famed golfer Tiger Woods, sheriff’s personnel confirmed Tuesday to USA TODAY Sports.
But the sheriff’s department has decided not to seek a warrant to obtain Woods’ blood to help determine whether he was under the influence of medication at the time of the crash Feb. 23.
To obtain such a warrant for the black box, law enforcement is required to establish there was probable cause that a crime was committed, even if it’s just a misdemeanor.
A sheriff’s deputy Tuesday downplayed the warrant as a routine part of their probe. He said he didn’t consider it a criminal investigation, but rather due diligence. The affidavit that the sheriff’s department used to establish such probable cause was not immediately available.
“We’re trying to determine if a crime was committed,” Sheriff’s Deputy John Schloegl told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. “If somebody is involved in a traffic collision, we’ve got to reconstruct the traffic collision, if there was any reckless driving, if somebody was on their cell phone or something like that. We determine if there was a crime. If there was no crime, we close out the case, and it was a regular traffic collision.”
Schloegl also said there was “no probable cause” to get a warrant to obtain Woods’ blood from him or the hospital he went to with broken bones in his lower right leg after the crash.
He added that the Woods camp has been cooperative. Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Tuesday night.
In 2017, Woods was found asleep at the wheel in Florida and had numerous medications in his system including the sleep aid Ambien, Vicodin, Xanax, Dilaudid and THC, according to the toxicology report that came out later. In January, he announced he had recently undergone the latest of several surgical procedures on his back.
“We can’t just assume that somebody’s history makes them guilty,” Schloegl said. He noted that first responders observed Woods to be alert with no evidence of impairment after he crashed his vehicle, a Genesis GV80, while headed north near Rolling Hills Estates in Los Angeles County.
During Sunday’s final rounds, players in the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship, Puerto Rico Open and Gainbridge LPGA showed their support for Woods in various ways.
Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Scottie Scheffler, Carlos Ortiz, and Cameron Champ rocked similar versions of his signature Sunday-red shirt and black pants. Billy Horschel had “TW” etched on his hat while Matt Kuchar, Jason Day and Bryson DeChambeau played with golf balls stamped with “TIGER.”
It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the tv and saw all the red shirts. To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time.
Rory McIlroy: “It’s just a gesture to let him know that we’re thinking about him and we’re rooting for him. Obviously things are looking a little better today than they were on Tuesday, but he’s still got aways to go. He’s got a huge recovery ahead of him.”
Tony Finau: “We’ve enjoyed so many Sundays watching Tiger do his thing. Red and black, we know that’s what Tiger does on Sundays, so to just join in and just let Tiger know we’re supporting him in the best way we can. We’re still playing and we miss him out here, but it was cool just to be a part of that today.”
Sebastian Munoz: “He was my idol. He’s the reason I played golf today. It’s just a little tribute I wanted to pay to him today, just how much his life and his work have impacted my life.”
Jason Day: “Just paying respect to Tiger. Obviously we hope for the best in wishing him a very quick recovery, just wanted him to know that we’re thinking about him.”
Justin Thomas: “I think it’s just important for him to feel some kind of support. I think this shows support to him. It’s not something that’s going to happen every week, it’s not something that people are doing every day, but obviously Sunday’s a pretty special day for him and what he’s wearing and just seemed like a great chance that people had the opportunity to do it.”
The news that Hicks and Cheyenne Woods, also a pro golfer, were dating became a matter of public interest this winter.
TAMPA, Fla. – The seriousness of Tiger Woods’ one-car accident was felt on a personal level by Aaron Hicks.
Woods’ niece, Cheyenne Woods, is the girlfriend of the New York Yankees’ center fielder, who said “it was extremely scary’’ to hear of the accident and the serious leg injuries sustained by the famous pro golfer.
Hicks said his focus is on “just trying to make sure’’ that his surgery has gone well and that “he’s going to be healthy again and making sure he can be a father again and be able to enjoy and run around and play with his kids.
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“That’s what’s important to us right now.’’
An avid golfer who resides in Arizona, Hicks said he’s only met Woods once.
The news that Hicks and Cheyenne Woods, also a pro golfer, were dating became a matter of public interest this winter when she posted an Instagram video of Hicks after scoring a hole-in-one on a golf course they played recently.
Woods, 45, was moved to a different facility roughly 20 miles away “for continuing orthopedic care and recovery,” said Dr. Anish Mahajan, interim CEO and chief medical officer of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where Woods originally was taken to the trauma center and treated following his accident early Tuesday morning in Rolling Hills Estates, California.
Woods survived Tuesday morning’s car accident with his life, but the road to recovery has just begun. He suffered “significant” leg injuries that already required extensive surgery and a rod being inserted into his lower right leg.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby told reporters Tuesday that responders told him there were injuries to both legs, although the extent of the injuries to the left leg remains unknown.
