After crashing his SUV final week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his cellphone and informed a deputy, “I used to be simply speaking to the president,” in keeping with physique digicam footage launched Thursday displaying Woods’ arrest on a DUI cost. The cellphone dialog was not captured on video, however Woods may very well be heard saying, “Thanks a lot,” as he hung up and the deputy approached. It wasn’t clear if Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump, is courting Woods. Shortly after the golfer’s March 27 arrest, Trump was requested about Woods and informed reporters: “I really feel so badly. He is acquired some issue. Very shut pal of mine. He is a tremendous individual. Superb man. However, some issue.”
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon whether or not Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.
The footage additionally reveals how Woods seemed to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a sobriety check and a video from the again of the patrol automotive reveals the handcuffed golfer hiccupping, yawning and repeatedly showing to nod off through the 15-minute trip.
Woods informed authorities he was taking a look at his cellphone and altering the radio station when his dashing Land Rover clipped the again of a truck and rolled onto its facet on a residential highway on Jupiter Island. Nobody was injured.
“I appeared down at my cellphone, and unexpectedly — increase,” Woods informed an officer as he knelt on a garden, previous to his arrest.
Physique digicam footage reveals Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar then conducting a roadside sobriety check and telling Woods: “I do imagine your regular colleges are impaired, and also you’re below an unknown substance, so right now you are below arrest for DUI.”
“I am being arrested?” Woods responded.
“Sure, sir,” Levenar stated.
After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and located two white tablets.
“That is a Norco,” Woods stated after an officer pulled out the tablets, referring to a painkiller that comprises acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities would later affirm that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
After being arrested for Driving Underneath Affect Tiger Woods was on cellphone with President Trump
The cop was unshaken and went in together with his work pic.twitter.com/4nB6gmJzjA
— TheRealMvitaOne (@FauzKhalid) April 3, 2026
Within the physique digicam footage, Woods informed Levenar that he had not drunk any alcohol and that he had taken “just a few” drugs earlier within the day, although Woods’ phrases are muted within the launched video as he describes a few of the medicine.
On the sheriff’s workplace advanced, after Woods was escorted into the “DUI room” the place drivers are examined for being below the affect, Woods stated, “I am not drunk. I am on a prescription medicine,” in keeping with a supplemental sheriff’s workplace report launched Thursday.
Woods, 50, pleaded not responsible on Tuesday to suspicion of driving below the affect. He posted a press release Tuesday night time saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to hunt therapy and deal with my well being.”
Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer check that confirmed no indicators of alcohol, however he refused a urine check, authorities stated. Underneath a change to Florida legislation final 12 months, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood or urine check turned a misdemeanor, even for a primary offense.
Throughout the discipline sobriety check, deputies seen Woods limping and that he had a compression sock over his proper knee. Woods defined he had undergone seven again surgical procedures and over 20 surgical procedures on his proper leg, and that his ankle seizes up whereas strolling.
Woods, who was hiccupping throughout questioning, repeatedly moved his head throughout one of many sobriety assessments and deputies needed to inform him a number of occasions to maintain his head straight, in keeping with an arrest report.
“Primarily based on my observations of Woods, how he carried out the workouts and based mostly on my coaching, information, and expertise, I believed that Woods regular colleges had been impaired, and he was unable to securely function the motorcar,” Levenar wrote.
Woods is probably the most influential determine in golf and has turn out to be as recognizable as any athlete on the planet. The primary individual of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf followers with data possible by no means to be damaged.
His accidents have saved him from engaging in extra, together with from a 2021 Los Angeles automotive crash that broken his proper leg so badly he stated medical doctors thought-about amputation. He has not performed an official occasion for the reason that 2024 British Open. He was recovering from a seventh again surgical procedure in October and was attempting to return on the Masters, the place he’s a five-time champion.
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