LA Sheriff: Tiger Can’t Recall Crash, No Charges Planned

Tiger Woods has no memory of Tuesday’s car accident that shattered his right leg, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Woods was asked about the accident by traffic investigators and said he had no recollection of the crash itself.

Los Angeles County Deputy Carlos Gonzalez, who was the first individual to arrive at the scene told NBC Today he did not believe Woods was aware of how “gravely he was injured at the time.”

Villanueva said he does not believe that there will be charges because a traffic accident is not a crime.

“We don’t contemplate any charges whatsoever in this crash,” he said. “This remains an accident. Accidents are not a crime. They do happen unfortunately.” 

When asked if Woods will face charges for reckless driving, which he described as a misdemeanor crime and not applicable to Woods’ traffic accident, Villanueva said no.   

“A reckless driving charge has a lot of elements into it,” Villanueva said. “This is purely an accident. There will be a cause and there will be a vehicle code attached to it … but was an infraction and reckless driving is actually more than an infraction — that is a misdemeanor crime ... and it has nothing like that.”

Villanueva reiterated Woods was not drunk or impaired.

“There was no evidence of any impairment,” he said. “That’s just the facts. If there was evidence of that, we would proceed with that. We hold everyone accountable to the rule of law, no matter your celebrity status. This was an accident. We are treating it like an accident.” 

The investigation into the crash, which occurred just after 7 a.m. PST on Tuesday, is ongoing. 

Villanueva said deputies will use data from the car Woods was driving, which was a courtesy car from the Genesis Invitational, to determine how fast he was traveling at the time of the accident.