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The Details Of Tiger Woods’s Crash Are Perplexing

3:20 PM EDT on April 9, 2021

Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department released more details this week about the single-car crash that Tiger Woods was involved in on Feb. 23 in Los Angeles. The reports give plenty of details about the frightening specifics of the crash, but do little to explain exactly how or why it happened.

According to police, Woods was driving 83 mph in a 45 mph zone when he failed to negotiate a curve in the road, at which point his car struck the median dividing the northbound and southbound lanes and ended up crashing into a tree. Data taken from the black box recorder in Woods's car showed that he never attempted to brake or turn the wheel, and actually stepped on the accelerator as the car approached the medium. Police theorized to reporters this week that Woods may have panicked and hit the accelerator when he meant to hit the brakes.

The various reports released by police state several times that Woods did not show any signs of being intoxicated or under the influence when he was treated at the crash site. Police said that Woods was knocked unconscious during the crash, and that his pupils were "not pinpoint and not restricted" in a way that would have indicated he was under the influence of narcotics. One report does state that an empty pill bottle with no labeling was found in a backpack that Woods had in the car with him, and that Woods told a deputy who interviewed him at the hospital that he thought he was in the state of Florida.

The police did not order a toxicology report on Woods, and told reporters this week that they would not seek a warrant to obtain any toxicology report that had been done at the hospital due to a lack of probable cause. Sheriff Alex Villanueva insisted that his department was not showing Woods "special or preferential treatment." Woods won't be facing any criminal charges related to his crash.

In 2017, Woods was charged with DUI after he was pulled over for driving erratically and a toxicology report revealed that he had Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Ambien, and THC in his system.

You can read the reports that were released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department here.

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