Lawyers say Tiger Woods' restaurant destroyed evidence to hide guilt
Tiger Woods and his girlfriend Erica Herman were officially named in a wrongful death lawsuit less than a day ago and already there’s an additional accusation on the table.
Lawyers for the family of Nicholas Immesberger, who are suing Woods and Herman over Immesberger’s death, are accusing Woods, Herman, or someone at Woods’ restaurant of destroying video evidence. Immesberger was a bartender at The Woods, which Herman runs, until he was killed in a car accident in December 2018 after leaving the bar intoxicated and getting behind the wheel. The family is alleging that after his shift that night, Immesberger was over-served by other staff at The Woods, and it was the responsibility of Woods and Herman to prevent that from happening.
Spencer Kuvin, one of the lawyers for Immesberger’s family, spoke to ESPN about video footage of Immesberger drinking at the bar, which they believe the restaurant destroyed.
"One of the most significant issues we have here is the destruction of evidence. Obviously it shows that somebody knew something had gone wrong and they wanted to get rid of that evidence. We have evidence to show that that videotape, showing Nick at the bar that night after he got off at 3 p.m., drinking for three hours at the bar, was destroyed shortly after the crash had occurred.
"So we have through our investigation uncovered evidence to show that the bar knew what happened, they knew about the crash that night and shortly thereafter that video evidence was destroyed and deleted off the servers they had there at The Woods."
The suit says that Immesberger also had issues with alcohol addiction, which Woods, Herman, and the staff were (or should have been) aware of, yet they consistently over-served him after his shifts. Kuvin told ESPN that Immesberger had wrecked a different car just a month earlier after drinking too much at The Woods, and most of the staff was aware of the incident. Immesberger had a blood alcohol level of .256, three times Florida’s legal limit, when he fatally crashed his car.
Tiger Woods speaks out
Woods is about to compete in the PGA Championship over the weekend after winning the Masters in April. He spoke about Immesberger on Tuesday morning during his pre-PGA Championship news conference.
“We're all very sad that Nick passed away,” Woods told the media. “It was a terrible night, a terrible ending, and just — we feel bad for him and his entire family. It's very sad.”
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