Sheriff said they have determined cause of Tiger Woods' crash, but won't release it yet
Los Angeles County sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday that detectives have determined what caused Tiger Woods’ single-car crash in February.
He declined, however, to explain what investigators found due to vague privacy concerns for Woods.
"A cause has been determined, the investigation has concluded," Villanueva said, via The Associated Press.
"We have reached out to Tiger Woods and his personnel. There's some privacy issues on releasing information on the investigation so we're going to ask them if they waive the privacy and then we will be able to do a full release on all the information regarding the accident."
An SUV that Woods was driving struck a median and rolled over on a downhill stretch of road just south of Los Angeles early on Feb. 23. He suffered multiple serious leg injuries that required surgery and a lengthy stay in a Los Angeles-area hospital before he was finally allowed to return home to Florida to recover.
Villanueva initially said that there was “no evidence of impairment” and that there were no signs that Woods was under the influence of any kind. They did say, however, that he was “very fortunate … to come out of this alive.”
Though Villanueva said that the rollover was “purely an accident,” the sheriff’s department executed a search warrant to investigate the black box from the car earlier this month.
Why did they ask permission from Woods’ team?
That decision, it turns out, doesn’t make much sense.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor and retired New York Police Department sergeant Joseph Giacalone told The Associated Press that Villanueva’s comments were stunning to him.
Had it been a non-celebrity involved in the crash, Giacalone said it’s unlikely that the department would have ever reached out to ask.
"I don't think I've ever seen a department ever ask for permission like that," he said, via The Associated Press. "What happens if his lawyers say 'no, you can't send it out now.' And then where does that leave us?
"I don't think they would have asked any family member of us if they can come out with it.”
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