The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department wants the information that the so-called ‘black box’ from the Genesis GV80 that Tiger Woods was driving a week ago before a serious crash can provide.
To do that, the department needed to get a search warrant, which required it to establish probable cause for a misdemeanor. Sheriff’s Deputy John Schloegl downplayed the warrant to USA Today, saying that this was simply a routine part of their investigation.
“We’re trying to determine if a crime was committed,” Schloegl told USA Today. “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.”
The sheriff’s department did not, however, seek a warrant for Woods’ bloodwork. A recent surgical procedure has led some to wonder if the golfer had medications in his system, but first responders at the scene said Woods was alert with no evidence of impairment.
Previously, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that the incident was purely an accident. The department has since added that this is an ongoing investigation and that the sheriff was speaking about the information known at the time.
Jonathan Cherney, a former detective and current accident reconstruction expert who walked the scene after the accident, told USA Today that to him the evidence suggested a driver falling asleep at the wheel.
Also Read: Tiger Woods Removed From Genesis GV80 Following Rollover
Woods was driving downhill on a curving road. At the time of the accident, he was on a stretch of road curving right. His car, though, went straight, hitting a curb and continuing into the oncoming lane before going off the road and hitting a tree.
Reports indicate that there were no skidmarks to suggest the driver hitting the brakes or attempting to turn. Cherney suspects that the vehicle would not have traveled as far off the road if attempts to mitigate the accident had been made.
Deputy Sheriff Shcloegl insisted, though, that getting the black box information was something the team did “automatically.”
“We want answers, so that’s the route we take,” he said. “We determine if there was a crime. If there was no crime, we close out the case and it was a regular traffic collision.”
Video below from the day of the accident.