Source : ABC NEWS
Tiger Woods told a police officer he was “just talking to the president” on his phone, according to body camera footage showing the golfer’s arrest on a DUI charge.
The phone conversation after Woods crashed his SUV last week in Florida was not captured on video, which was released overnight.
But Woods could be heard saying, “Thank you so much,” as he hung up and a police officer approached.
It was not clear if Woods was referring to US President Donald Trump.
Woods is dating the president’s former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump.
Shortly after the golfer’s March 27 arrest, Mr Trump was asked about Woods and told reporters: “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person. Amazing man. But some difficulty.”
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The release of the footage comes one day after Woods was granted a request by a Florida judge to leave the United States to enter a comprehensive inpatient treatment facility as he faces misdemeanour driving under the influence charges.
“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,” Martin County Sheriff’s deputy Tatiana Levenar told Woods after conducting a sobriety test.
Woods said he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his speeding Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on a residential road on Jupiter Island.
No-one was injured in the Friday, March 27, crash.
“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded as he stood alongside the road.
“Yes sir,” Deputy Levenar said.
After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and found two white pills.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out the pills, referring to a painkiller that contains acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone.
Authorities would later confirm Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
In the footage, Woods told Deputy Levenar he had not drunk any alcohol, and he had taken “a few medications earlier in the day”.
Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle following the crash. (AP: Jason Oteri)
Woods, 50, pleaded not guilty to suspicion of driving under the influence.
He posted a statement on Wednesday AEDT saying he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health”.
During a field sobriety test, deputies noticed Woods limping, and he had a compression sock over his right knee.
Woods explained he had undergone seven back surgeries and over 20 surgeries on his right leg.
He said his ankle would seize up while walking.
Woods, who was hiccupping during questioning, continuously moved his head during one of the sobriety tests, and deputies had to tell him several times to keep his head straight.
“Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods’s normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” Deputy Levenar wrote in an arrest report.
Following last week’s crash, Woods agreed to a breathalyser test that showed no signs of alcohol.
But Woods refused a urine test. He was arrested and released on bail eight hours later.
Under a change to Florida law last year, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood or urine test became a misdemeanour, even for a first offence.
AP
