LOS ANGELES- On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Commissioner characterized the crash that severely wounded Tiger Woods as “purely a coincidence” and seemed to rule out any possible criminal charges even as authorities were still probing
Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, “Police officers saw no proof the golf player was impaired by alcohol or drugs after Tuesday’s rollover accident on a downhill stretch of road which is famous for crashes.”
“He was not drunk or high,” Villanueva said during a live video on social media. “We can toss that one aside.”
In 2017 Woods checked into a clinic for help controlling the prescription medication. He was driving alone in Los Angeles suburban areas when his SUV truck smashed an elevated median, crossed into approaching lanes and flipped many times. The crash caused “heavy injuries to his right leg that needed surgery, according to a tweet on Wood’s Twitter account.
The first officer to arrive at the accident, Deputy Carlos Gonzalez, patrols the road and said he often catches people exceeding 129 kph (80 mph) in the downhill, 45 mph zone. He also said that wrecks are pretty standard.
A private injury lawyer in California, Justin King, said that if researchers prove the road contributed to Woods’ crash and it is unsafe, the committee that manages it could be held responsible. The accident happened on the border between Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates, and the county supervisor who manages the whole area has asked for a safety review.
A former New York police sergeant and a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Joe Giacalone, said it was “untimely’ for Alex to decide the crash was an accident just 24 hours later.
