A wildly rich and popular athlete is likely receiving preferable treatment….color us all shocked.
A few days ago, Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today ran a report suggesting that an investigation into Tiger woods accident and a few forensic experts were under the impression the golf legend is getting favorable treatment from the sheriff’s department.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced on Feb. 23rd that his deputies “did not see any evidence of impairment.” Just one day later, he announced that the crash was “purely an accident” and said there had been no need to bring in a drug recognition expert to evaluate the 45-year-old Woods for impairment.
However, several forensic experts told USA Today Sports that the available evidence in the case indicates Woods was inattentive or asleep when the SUV went straight into a median as well as his lack of hitting the brake throughout the process.
- To frame the crash as an “accident” right away. Hours after the crash, the sheriff and the deputy who responded to the 911 call both emphasized the downhill road as a potential cause.
- To not bring in a drug-recognition expert (DRE), a law enforcement officer who is trained to identify clues of impairment and determine whether the driver should have his blood examined for medications or other drugs. Calling on a DRE can be routine in serious crash investigations, but it is up to each agency in charge.
The cited clues questioned the sheriff’s department’s decision to quickly label the crash an “accident” and to not bring in an expert to have Woods’ blood examined.
“LASD is not releasing any further information at this time,” the sheriff’s department told USA Today Sports in a statement. “The traffic collision investigation is ongoing and traffic investigators continue to work to determine the cause of the collision.”
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Accident reconstruction experts added that Woods’ lack of remembering driving at all was reason enough to bring in a drug recognition expert, or DRE.
“I would have thought that you would have him evaluated by a DRE to see whether or not there are some physical clues beyond the operation that would point to impairment,” said Charles Schack, a former New Hampshire state trooper who is now president of Crash Experts, which analyzes accidents.
“To an untrained person, sometimes the effects are a bit more subtle, and require a bit more in-depth examination to bring out the evidence of impairment,” he told USA Today Sports.
The department has yet to release any findings after executing a search warrant to obtain the “black box” data from the SUV that could show how fast Woods was traveling, plus any braking or steering activity prior to impact.
