BS BULLETIN:
- Tiger Woods pleaded no contest to reduced reckless-driving charges stemming from his March rollover crash in Florida.
- A judge suspended the golf legend’s driver’s license for five years and warned that driving during the suspension would send him back to jail.
- Woods avoided a DUI conviction under the agreement but was also penalized for refusing a drug test.
Tiger Woods will be off the road for five years after reaching a plea agreement in the criminal case stemming from his March rollover crash near his Florida home.
The 50-year-old golf legend appeared Wednesday in a Martin County courtroom and pleaded no contest to reckless driving and refusing to submit to a lawful test.
A no-contest plea is not formally an admission of guilt, but it is treated as a conviction.
Prosecutors reduced the original charge of driving under the influence with property damage to reckless driving, second offense. Woods was also found guilty of careless driving and ordered to pay fines and court costs.
The judge imposed concurrent five-year license suspensions and warned Woods that there would be no exceptions.“If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail,” the judge told him, according to ABC News.
Woods was accompanied in court by his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, the former wife of Donald Trump Jr.
The case began March 27 after authorities said Woods attempted to pass a truck on a residential road near his Jupiter Island home. His SUV clipped a trailer being towed by the truck and rolled onto its side.
No one was injured, although the other vehicle sustained approximately $5,000 in damage.
Woods reportedly told investigators that he had been looking at his cellphone and adjusting the radio before failing to notice the truck slowing in front of him.
A responding deputy described Woods as sweating heavily with slow, lethargic movements, bloodshot eyes and severely dilated pupils.
A breathalyzer detected no alcohol, but Woods refused to provide a urine sample that could have revealed drugs or prescription medication in his system. Authorities later discovered two hydrocodone pills in his pocket.
Days after his arrest, Woods announced he would step away from golf to seek treatment. He reportedly spent six weeks receiving inpatient care in Switzerland before returning to the United States in June.
The crash marked Woods’ second arrest on suspicion of DUI. In 2017, police found him asleep behind the wheel of a running vehicle in Florida. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving in that case.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Tiger Woods receives five-year license suspension after changing plea — Mediaite
- Tiger Woods pleads no contest to reckless driving — Associated Press
- Tiger Woods changes plea and loses license for five years — ABC News
- Tiger Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving in Florida case — CBS News
- Judge grants access to Woods’ prescription records — Mediaite
