Video (02:02) : Police in Florida have released dashcam video showing the DUI arrest of Tiger Woods on Monday.
JUPITER, Fla. — His speech
slow and slurred, Tiger Woods couldn't follow simple instructions or
keep his balance during a dazed and disoriented encounter with police
before he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The video images came from
dashcam footage that Jupiter police released Wednesday night, and they
show Woods with little capacity to stand still without swaying, repeat
simple instruction or put one foot in front of the other.
The footage came from his
arrest Monday in the dark of early morning when Jupiter police noticed
his Mercedes parked on the side of a six-lane road, part of it in the
road and part of it in the bicycle lane.
Police found the Woods sound
asleep behind the wheel, according to an incident report. The engine
was running, the brake lights were on and the right turn signal was
blinking. Police also released photos of his car that showed both tires
flat and minor damage around the bumpers.
When the officer asks Woods
where he had been, the 14-time major champion says, "LA." He says he was
headed down to Orange County.
The 1 hour, 39-minute video
starts with Jupiter police approaching Woods' car and ends with the
cruiser pulling into the Palm Beach County jail, with Woods in handcuffs
behind his back and sitting in the back seat.
Woods told the officers he
had not been drinking, and two breath tests at the jail registered a 0.0
blood-alcohol level. Woods issued a statement nearly 10 hours after he
was released from jail on Monday that alcohol was not involved.
"What happened was an
unexpected reaction to prescribed medications," Woods said in his
statement. "I didn't realize the mix of medications had affected me so
strongly."
He told police he was taking
prescription medicine. When asked what kind, he gave an answer that was
redacted from the videotape. The arrest affidavit listed four
medications, including Vicodin, that Woods reported taking.
Woods is to be arraigned July 5 in Palm Beach County Court.
The video brings to life the
troubling images contained in an incident report from the four police
officers who were at the scene.
His speech is slurred from
his first words. When the officer points out that Woods' shoe is untied,
Woods places his right foot on the front of the police car and starts
to fiddle with the laces.
"It's your other shoe that's untied," the officer says as Woods unties the laces.
"Now that one is, too," the officer adds.
When Woods is unable to tie
the left shoe, the officer tells him he can take them off. Woods then
tells the officer he doesn't remember what happened or being asleep in
his car when police approached.
The field sobriety test was a failure from the start.
Woods struggled to simply put his feet together. When he did, he leaned forward after losing his balance.
He couldn't follow a red
light the officer moved from side to side. When asked to walk a straight
line by going heel-to-toe nine times, Woods staggered from the starting
position. He never connected heel-to-toe. He often strayed outside the
white line and occasionally lost his balance.
Woods couldn't raise one leg 6 inches off the ground.
On his third try of understanding instructions to recite the alphabet, he made it from A to Z.
The next instruction from
the officer was to place his hands behind his back as they cuffed him
and told him he was being arrested.
Woods, who had his fourth
back surgery in three years on April 20, has not played since Feb. 2 in
Dubai when he withdrew after the first round because of back spasms. The
surgery means he is out for the rest of the PGA Tour season.
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