A dazed Tiger Woods can be seen kneeling at the side of the road and falling asleep in the back of a cop car in remarkable footage of his latest DUI arrest in Florida.
Woods, 50, rolled his SUV on Friday while attempting to overtake a vehicle at high speed on the usually-quaint Jupiter Island, before cops found two opioid pills in his pocket and put him behind bars.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office has now released full video footage of the moment cops found him lethargic, sweaty and unsteady at the side of the street, as well as a 17-minute clip of him being transported to jail.
In the footage of him in the back seat of the cop car, Woods can be seen yawning wildly, struggling to contain a bout of hiccups, and briefly falling asleep, all while remaining completely silent.
In the initial clip of him at the roadside, recorded by the arresting officer’s bodycam, Woods can be heard explaining how the crash occurred.
‘I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden… boom!’ Woods tells the officer, explaining the moment he clipped the back of a pressure washer trailer and rolled his Range Rover onto its side.
He is kneeling on the grass verge as medical checks are performed on him, and an officer can be heard asking ‘is this comfortable for you?’, to which he replies: ‘Yeah, yeah.’
The officer then walks away from the golfer, showing his upturned vehicle and the driver of the truck and trailer being interviewed by a different cop on the usually-quiet Jupiter Island street.
Woods’ arrest affidavit was released on Wednesday, in which cops revealed how he had told them he was ‘looking down at this cell phone and changing the radio station’ when the crash occurred.
When officers searched Woods, they discovered two white pills inside the left pocket of his trousers. They were marked ‘M367’, which is hydrocodone and is used to treat severe or chronic pain. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opioids are ‘highly addictive’.
The 15-time major winner’s eyes were also said to be ‘bloodshot and glassy’ and his pupils were ‘extremely dilated’. When asked if he is currently taking any prescription medication, Woods replied: ‘I take a few’.
It comes after the Daily Mail first reported that Woods’ refusal to provide a urine sample at the scene was likely because he had taken heavy doses of prescription opioids from his repeated injuries.
Golfer Tiger Woods, 50, stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Florida
Woods, who has been involved in multiple other crashes over the years, was charged with driving under the influence, property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.
The affidavit says Woods was ‘limping and stumbling’ during a field sobriety test. After completing a number of exercises, Woods was deemed unfit to be driving his car.
He had been traveling at ‘high speeds’ on a residential road and after the crash showed ‘signs of impairment,’ Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said, adding that investigators believe he had taken some kind of medication or drug.
He described Woods as lethargic and said he agreed to a breathalyzer test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test and was arrested.
Budensiek said Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-lane road with a 30mph speed limit. He said authorities could not determine how fast Woods was going.
The Land Rover swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer, Budensiek said. Woods’ car then rolled onto its driver’s side and he crawled out.
The sheriff said Woods was ‘cooperative, but he’s not trying to incriminate himself.’
He said Woods has the right to refuse the urine test and that authorities ‘will never get definitive results with what he was impaired on.’
This was the fourth time Woods has been involved in a car crash, most recently in February 2021 when his SUV ran off a coastal road in Los Angeles at a high rate of speed, leading to multiple leg and ankle injuries.
Woods said later doctors considered amputation. He also previously sustained multiple injuries to his left knee and his back during his golf career.
It was the second time Woods has been arrested for a DUI not as a result of the influence of alcohol.
He said he took a bad mix of painkillers when authorities found him in 2017 asleep behind the wheel of his car, the engine still running and its driver’s side damaged. Woods pleaded guilty then to reckless driving.
President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law Vanessa is dating Woods, was asked about the golfer when he landed in Miami on Friday afternoon for an investment summit.
‘I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty,’ Trump said. ‘Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person. Amazing man. But, some difficulty.’
