Investigators to examine data from the black box of the car Tiger Woods was driving in crash
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will retrieve data from the black box in the Genesis SUV courtesy vehicle that golf legend Tiger Woods was driving before his rollover crash last week.
The department told CNN in a statement it executed a search warrant for the black box but had “no additional information regarding the recovered data.”
Speaking to USA Today, Sheriff’s Deputy John Schloegl said Tuesday the development was just due diligence and he didn’t consider the probe a criminal investigation.
“If somebody is involved in a traffic collision, we’ve got to reconstruct the traffic collision, if there was any reckless driving, if somebody was on their cell phone or something like that,” Schloegl told the news outlet. “We determine if there was a crime. If there was no crime, we close out the case, and it was a regular traffic collision.”
When CNN reached out for clarification on the warrant, the department declined to provide further information.
Authorities have previously said they believe the incident was “purely an accident” but they would have to pull the black box event recorder from the vehicle to make that determination.
A long road to recovery
Woods was driving last Tuesday in Rancho Palos Verdes, near Los Angeles, shortly after 7 a.m. PT when his SUV crossed a median and veered across two lanes of road before hitting a curb, hitting a tree and landing on its side in the brush, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said last week.
He is believed to have been traveling at a high rate of speed before the crash, authorities said. There were no skid marks or other indications of braking, according to the sheriff.
The 45-year-old sustained injuries to his leg that required a rod, screws, pins and a surgical release of the muscle covering — which surgeons likely believed would save his leg from amputation, emergency physician Dr. Jeremy Faust told CNN last week.
While he is recovering, Woods wrote in a Sunday tweet, “It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the tv and saw all the red shirts.”
His words came after several PGA Tour golfers were seen wearing red shirts Sunday as a tribute to Woods.
“To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time,” Woods added.
