Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday, Feb. 24, there was no evidence Tiger Woods was impaired when he crashed the SUV he was driving the day before on a stretch of road in Rancho Palos Verdes known for frequent accidents.
“No evidence of impairment whatsoever. He was lucid,” Villanueva said in a live stream on Facebook with reporters and members of the public Wednesday morning. “This is what it is – an accident.”
The stretch of Hawthorne Boulevard where Woods’ vehicle rolled over has seen 13 accidents, four with injuries, since January 2020, Villanueva said.
The crash occurred just before 7:15 a.m. along Hawthorne Boulevard near Blackhorse Road as Woods was driving the 2021 silver Kia Genesis on his way to Rolling Hills Country Club, where he was scheduled to do a photo shoot and play golf with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
Villanueva described the crash:
Woods’ SUV was traveling downhill when it drifted across lanes and plowed into a city sign – “Welcome to Rolling Hills Estates” – before hitting a curb and rolling over.
The vehicle came to rest off of Hawthorne Boulevard.
The sheriff said investigators were not considering filing any charges at this point.
“There will be a cause attached to it, a Vehicle Code,” Villanueva said.
But the sheriff said at most the crash could be determined to be the result of distracted driving.
“That’s an infraction,” he said.
The golf legend had surgery on Tuesday for serious injuries to his right leg and ankle after the SUV crashed that morning.
The sheriff has said it appears that Woods was speeding.
The golfer suffered compound fractures to his lower right leg and a shattered ankle, requiring emergency surgery in which a rod was inserted into his tibia, said Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer and interim CEO at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said in a Tuesday night statement on Woods’ Twitter account.
“Additional injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins,” Mahajan said. “Trauma to the muscle and soft-tissue of the leg required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling.”
It wasn’t immediately known how long those injuries would take to heal.
Woods was awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room by Tuesday night, the statement read, adding a thank you to the doctors and hospital staff at the hospital, the Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
“We thank everyone for the overwhelming support and messages during this tough time,” the statement said.
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