Tiger Woods apparently did not pay attention in the moments before his devastating accident – and may have fallen asleep at the wheel of the luxury SUV he was driving, according to a report referring to forensic car accident experts.
The 45-year-old left-wing legend was driving a 2021 Genesis GV80 alone when he drove across the median on Hawthorne Boulevard in Rancho Palos Verdes, went off the road and hit a tree and overturned the car.
Woods broke several bones in his lower right leg, indicating that he applied the brake during the impact, experts told USA Today.
“To me, it’s like a classic case to fall asleep behind the wheel because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight,” Jonathan Cherney, a consultant who serves as an expert witness in court cases, told the news office said.
The former police detective personally investigated the crash site.
“It’s a drift off the road, almost as if he was unconscious, suffering from a medical episode or falling asleep and not waking up until he was off the road and that’s where the brake application came in. “,” Cherney told USA Today.
Alex Villanueva, sheriff of the LA province, said there were no shift marks to indicate, but the vehicle had anti-lock brakes, so even if Woods stepped on brakes, you would not necessarily see tire marks, “Felix Lee, a accident reconstruction, the outlet said.
Lee said an important idea is how the SUV has not changed direction.
“My feeling is that speed was not such a big issue. It was just a kind of inattention that caused the strike of the curb, “said Lee, who is part of the Expert Institute, a network that provides expert witnesses in court cases.
Cherney also said he saw no evidence of “any steering input” that would indicate the golfer was trying to avoid the crash.
Rami Hashish, head of the National Biomechanics Institute, which investigates accidents, told USA Today that it indicates a “very delayed response.”
“It indicates that he is not paying attention to it at all,” the expert said, adding that he suspected the damage would have been much greater if Woods had traveled too fast.
The speed limit on that stretch is 45 km / h.
“You can walk away with a broken leg from 45 to 50 mph,” Hashish said. “If you hit 60, 65 and hit a stationary object, your probability of death increases exponentially.”
“If he had driven 80 km / h, he would not have had an open fracture in this leg – he would have been dead,” he said.
The sheriff said investigators did not yet know the speed of the vehicle but said it could be a factor as well as inattention.
“This stretch of road is challenging, and if you do not pay attention, you can see what is happening,” Villanueva said on Wednesday, adding that the accident in a preliminary investigation was ‘purely an accident’.
There was no evidence of impairment or medication, he added.
However, the experts were surprised that Villanueva determined that it would be an accident without further investigating the SUV’s ‘black box’ computer, which could reveal steering, braking or acceleration actions before the impact.
“There is no real accident unless it’s a real medical emergency,” Cherney said. ‘There’s always some negligence, whether it’s simple negligence, like looking at your phone or changing the radio station that starts the whole collision sequence.
“So, if the sheriff says it’s just an accident, I do not know how it can be so early in the world in the game without completing an in-depth thorough investigation and reconstruction analysis,” he added.
In 2017, police found Woods at the helm in Florida. A toxicology report says he had Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien – used to treat sleep problems – and THC in his system at the time.
Cherney also questioned whether the SUV actually rolled over a few times, as Villanueva indicated.
“I consider a revolution to be one full revolution, and not just falling on its side,” Cherney said. “I do not think the vehicle has experienced as many revolutions or complete roles as it depicts.”
In his first comments after the crash, Woods said on Sunday: “It’s hard to explain how moving it was today when I turned on the television and saw all the red shirts,” referring to his peers in his distinctive red shirt Sunday outfit. and black. pants during the final round of the WCG Workday Championship.
“To every golfer and every fan, you really help me get through this difficult time.”