By Frank Pingue
March 31 (Reuters) – Tiger Woods told authorities he was looking down at his phone and did not realize the truck in front of him had slowed down before his rollover crash in Florida last week, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained on Tuesday.
According to the report, Woods had two hydrocodone pills in his pocket and officers observed him to be lethargic, slow, “sweating profusely” with eyes that were bloodshot, glassy and pupils that were “extremely dilated”.
When asked during the criminal DUI investigation if he took any prescription medication, the report said the 50-year-old golfer replied “I take a few” while adding he had done so earlier in the morning.
Woods’ manager did not immediately respond when asked to comment on details of the probable cause affidavit.
A Martin County Sheriff’s deputy wrote in the report that Woods, when asked about the collision, said he was looking at his cell phone and changing the radio station which caused him not to see a truck slowing down before the crash.
The officer said in the report he observed Woods “limping and stumbling” and added that the golfer told him he has had seven back surgeries and over 20 operations on his leg.
Woods, a 15-time major champion and the greatest golfer of his generation, was arrested last Friday afternoon on a charge of driving under the influence after his Land Rover rolled over on a two-lane road near his Jupiter Island home. He was released on bail later that night.
No one was injured in the crash.
The officer also noted in the report that Woods was “extremely alert and talkative” and had “hiccups during the entire investigation.”
Woods, who said last Tuesday he was hoping to be ready to compete in the April 9-12 Masters, told the officer he has a limp and that his ankle seizes while walking.
The deputy who walked Woods through a series of field sobriety tests said in the report that based on his training: “I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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