Everything We Know So Far About Tiger Woods’s DUI
Things are not going so well for Tiger Woods. The former golf superstar hasn’t won a major tournament since 2008, and he has suffered a slew of injuries in recent years. In fact, he hasn’t played in a tournament at all since he had to pull out of the Dubai Desert Classic in February. Then, around 3 a.m. on Monday, the pro golfer was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after being found asleep at the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz, which had two flat tires and showed signs of “fresh damage” on the driver’s side.
The officers at the scene described the car’s state, noting that “both rims on the driver’s side of the vehicle” were “damaged” and both tires on the driver’s side were flat. They also saw damage to the bumper on the driver’s side and white scrapes and scuffs on the rear bumper, and they noted that the passenger side rear taillight was not functioning. The damage all seemed recent, according to the police reports obtained by TMZ.
When he was discovered, he was in his vehicle with his seat belt on, on the side of the road in Jupiter, Fla. — but he apparently thought he was in L.A. and was driving to Orange County. They had to wake him up before they could speak with him, and they reported that he seemed groggy and his speech was slurred. Officers said he kept falling back asleep while they conducted their investigation. In other words, he was not in a good state.
It turned out, however, that his blood alcohol level was 0.000, which meant he wasn’t drunk. But he was on a variety of drugs. On Monday, Woods stated that alcohol was not a factor, but that he’d had “an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications.”
Woods was taking pain medications following his most recent back surgery, which took place just over a month ago. It was his fourth surgery in three years. According to the golfer, the surgery had gone well, but he wouldn’t be able to twist his back for another few months. He was currently in recovery mode. “Right now, my sole focus is rehab and doing what the doctors tell me,” he wrote in a blog post last week. “I am concentrating on short-term goals.” He had also recently released a book, which he had been promoting with personal appearances.
In his statement following Monday’s incident, Woods claimed that he hadn’t realized mixing the pills had affected him “so strongly.” That was a pretty big miscalculation. “I understand the severity of what I did, and I take full responsibility for my actions,” Woods added. “I will do everything in my power to ensure this never happens again.” (It’s hard to hear that and not immediately think back to his 2009 incident involving a car crash and a fight with his now-ex-wife, Elin Nordegren.)
The dashcam footage of his arrest is expected to be released today. The 41-year-old athlete was released on his own recognizance and is slated to appear in court on July 5.
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