By Frank Pingue
March 31 (Reuters) – Tiger Woods has pleaded not guilty to DUI charges and requested a trial with a jury after being involved in a rollover crash in Florida last week, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
Woods’ next court appearance was scheduled for May 5, though he does not have to appear in person for any proceeding prior to a trial, court records show.
Woods, a 15-time major champion and the greatest golfer of his generation, was arrested last Friday afternoon on a charge of driving under the influence after his Land Rover rolled over on a two-lane road near his Jupiter Island home. He was released on bail later that night.
No one was injured in the crash.
According to a probable-cause affidavit seen by Reuters earlier on Tuesday, Woods told authorities he was looking down at his phone and did not realize the truck in front of him had slowed down.
Authorities also said in the affidavit that Woods had two hydrocodone pills in his pocket and that officers observed him to be lethargic, slow, “sweating profusely,” with bloodshot eyes and pupils that were “extremely dilated.”
When asked during the criminal DUI investigation if he took any prescription medication, the report said the 50-year-old golfer replied, “I take a few,” while adding he had done so earlier in the morning.
Woods’ manager did not immediately respond when asked to comment on details of the probable-cause affidavit.
A Martin County Sheriff’s deputy wrote in the report that Woods, when asked about the March 27 collision, said he was looking at his cell phone and changing the radio station which caused him not to see a truck slowing down before the crash.
The officer said in the report he observed Woods “limping and stumbling” and added that the golfer told him he has had seven back surgeries and over 20 operations on his leg.
The officer also noted in the report that Woods was “extremely alert and talkative” and had “hiccups during the entire investigation.”
Woods, who said on Tuesday of last week that he was hoping to be ready to compete in the April 9-12 Masters, told the officer he has a limp and that his ankle seizes while walking.
The deputy who walked Woods through a series of field sobriety tests said in the report that based on his training, “I believed that Woods’ normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Additional reporting by Rory Carroll in Los AngelesEditing by Christian Radnedge and Matthew Lewis)
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