Body camera footage released Thursday reveals the moments after Tiger Woods crashed his SUV in Jupiter Island, Florida, showing the golf legend handcuffed and deputies finding two pills in his pocket. The 50-year-old pleaded not guilty Tuesday to DUI charges and announced he would step away from golf indefinitely to seek treatment.
Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar administered a field sobriety test on Woods after the March 27 crash, during which she noted his impaired faculties. “I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI,” Levenar told Woods. The golfer responded, “I’m being arrested?”
Woods explained he was looking at his phone and changing the radio when his speeding Land Rover clipped a truck and rolled onto its side. No one was injured. After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and found two white pills. “That’s a Norco,” Woods said, referring to a painkiller containing hydrocodone. Authorities later confirmed the pills were hydrocodone.
In the footage, Woods told Levenar he had not consumed alcohol but had taken “a few” medications earlier that day, though his words were muted when describing some drugs. He agreed to a Breathalyzer test showing no alcohol but refused a urine test. Under a 2025 Florida law change, refusing such a test is a misdemeanor even for first offenses.
During the sobriety test, deputies observed Woods limping with a compression sock on his right knee. He mentioned seven back surgeries and over 20 surgeries on his right leg, causing his ankle to seize up. Woods hiccuped during questioning and was told multiple times to keep his head straight during one test.
Levenar later wrote, “Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle.”
Woods, the most influential figure in golf and the first Black winner of the Masters in 1997, has been sidelined by injuries including a 2021 car crash in Los Angeles that nearly required leg amputation. He has not played an official event since the 2024 British Open and was recovering from a seventh back surgery in October, aiming to return at the Masters, where he is a five-time champion. Following last week’s crash, he was arrested and released on bail eight hours later.
