DOCUMENT: Sports, Crime

Police Filmed Tiger Woods DUI Debacle

Video shows golfer "unable to walk alone"

View Document

Tiger Woods DUI

MAY 30--As if Tiger Woods’s droopy-eyed booking photo was not embarrassing enough, Florida police videotaped the golf star as he stumbled through sobriety tests following his arrest early yesterday for driving under the influence.

A Jupiter Police Department report notes that the 41-year-old athlete was asleep at the wheel of a running black Mercedes when a patrolman discovered him stopped in the roadway around 2 AM Monday.

Woods, cops noted, had “extremely slow and slurred speech” and “did not know where he was.” Woods was arrested after failing a series of field sobriety tests. When told that he would have to recite the alphabet backward, Woods confirmed that he understood the directions, saying, “Yes, recite the entire national anthem backwards.”

A supplemental report indicates that the field tests were recorded by a police dash cam.

Two breath tests recorded Woods’s blood alcohol content at .000, indicating that he was likely incapacitated due to his ingestion of narcotics. Woods told police that he takes the painkiller Vicodin and other medicines. He also reported having multiple surgeries on his left knee and achilles.

After being transported to the Jupiter Police Department, Woods was videotaped by officers as he was observed in the DUI testing facility. The 12-minute video shows the lethargic Woods slurring his words and “unable to walk alone.”

While the video of a bumbling Woods has not been released by police, it is likely that the recording will become public due to the state’s expansive open records laws.  

In a statement yesterday, Woods said that he had an "unexpected reaction to prescribed medications.” (4 pages)