After Tiger Woods crashed his SUV in Florida final week, he pulled out his cellphone and informed a deputy he was “speaking to the president,” in keeping with physique digital camera footage launched Thursday.
The cellphone dialog was not recorded on video, however Woods may be heard saying “Thanks very a lot” as he hung up and the deputy approached him. It is unclear whether or not Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose ex-daughter-in-law Vanessa Trump is courting Woods.
Instantly after Woods’ arrest on March 27, President Trump was requested about Woods and informed reporters: “I really feel very dangerous. He is going by just a little little bit of a problem. He is a really shut pal of mine. He is an incredible man. A terrific man. However he is bought just a little little bit of a problem.”
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon whether or not Trump spoke with Woods after the crash.
The footage additionally reveals Mr Woods showing stunned when he’s handcuffed after failing a area sobriety check, and the police officer eradicating two capsules from his pocket. Different footage taken from the again seat of a police automobile confirmed the handcuffed golfer hiccuping, yawning and nodding repeatedly throughout the 15-minute experience.
Woods informed authorities that he was his cellphone and altering radio stations when his dashing Land Rover clipped the again of his truck and overturned on a residential road on Jupiter Island. Nobody was injured within the afternoon accident.
Earlier than his arrest, Woods informed officers as he knelt on the grass, “I regarded down at my cellphone and rapidly I heard a bang.”
Physique digital camera footage reveals Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Revenner administering a highway sobriety check and telling Woods, “As a result of I consider your regular colleges are impaired and you’ve got been administered an unknown substance, you’re being arrested for DUI at the moment.”
“Am I going to be arrested?” Woods replied.
“Sure, sir,” Revenor stated.
After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and located two white capsules.
After the officer eliminated the capsules, Woods stated, “That is Norco,” referring to painkillers containing acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities later decided that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
Within the physique digital camera footage, Woods informed Lebener that he had not had any alcohol and had taken “a number of” medication earlier within the day, however Woods’ phrases are silenced within the launched video as he describes a number of medication.
“I am not drunk. I am on prescription treatment,” Woods stated after being taken to the DUI room the place he was examined for drunken driving, in keeping with a supplemental sheriff’s workplace report launched Thursday.
Woods, 50, pleaded not responsible Tuesday to drunk driving. He launched a press release Tuesday evening saying he could be stepping away indefinitely “to obtain remedy and deal with his well being.”
Throughout area sobriety assessments, deputies seen Woods was limp and sporting a compression sock on his proper knee. Woods stated he has had seven again surgical procedures and greater than 20 surgical procedures on his proper foot, which brought about his ankle to stiffen when he walked.
In line with the arrest report, Woods hiccuped throughout the interrogation and stored transferring his head throughout the breathalyzer check, requiring officers to repeatedly ask him to straighten his head.
“Based mostly on my observations of Woods, how he carried out the maneuvers, and my coaching, data, and expertise, I believed that Woods’ regular talents had been impaired and that he was incapable of safely working a motorcar,” Revenner wrote.
On Thursday, the Martin County Sheriff’s Workplace added a cost of careless driving, which is a transferring violation underneath Florida legislation. Woods was fined $163.
Physique digital camera footage additionally confirmed Rob McNamara, Woods’ longtime supervisor and shut pal, and unidentified members of Woods’ safety workforce arriving on the scene shortly after the accident. When a Jupiter Island police officer requested Woods if he wanted something from the SUV, he replied, “My cane.”
“Okay,” the officer stated. “They’re price greater than my home.”
“Sure, this putter is price greater than all of our homes,” McNamara jokingly stated, earlier than explaining to the officer that Woods had used that putter to win 14 majors.
The official requested Woods if he supposed to play within the Masters.
“I hope so,” Woods stated.
“It is as much as you guys,” one in all Woods’ safety guards informed the officer.
Woods is among the most influential figures in golf and has develop into as well-known as any athlete on this planet. He grew to become the primary African-American to win the Masters in 1997 and has captivated golf followers with information that may doubtless by no means be damaged.
Nevertheless, he was unable to attain extra as a consequence of harm. He stated these embody accidents sustained in a automobile accident in Los Angeles in 2021 that left his proper leg so severely broken that medical doctors thought of amputation. He has not performed in an official match because the 2024 British Open. He was recovering from his seventh again surgical procedure in October and was aiming to make a return on the Masters, the place he has gained 5 occasions.
After final week’s accident, Woods agreed to a breathalyzer check that confirmed no indicators of alcohol, however refused a urine check, authorities stated. He was arrested and launched on bail eight hours later.
A change in Florida legislation final yr made it a misdemeanor to refuse a police officer’s request for a breath, blood or urine check, even for a first-time offender.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Related Press contributed to this report.
