SALON

Monday, Nov 30, 2009 12:01 AM UTC

Woods cancels meeting with police — again

Instead, he issues statement on his Web site

By

Topics: Tiger Woods,

Tiger Woods finally gave his side of the story Sunday — on his Web site, not to police — and took the blame for an “embarrassing” car crash that gave him cuts, bruises and public scrutiny like never before.

His statement failed to clear up any questions about the middle-of-the-night accident outside his Isleworth estate in which his wife told police she used a golf club to smash the back windows of the Cadillac SUV to help him out.

“This situation is my fault, and it’s obviously embarrassing to my family and me,” Woods said on his Web site. “I’m human and I’m not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

The statement was posted around 2 p.m. Sunday, about an hour after Woods’ attorney told the Florida Highway Patrol that for the third straight day golf’s No. 1 player would be unavailable to talk to troopers.

This time, the meeting was not rescheduled.

Even so, Sgt. Kim Montes of FHP said troopers went to Woods’ $2.4 million estate anyway, only for attorney Mark NeJame to turn them away. The attorney gave troopers Woods’ driver’s license, registration and insurance as required by law for such accidents.

Woods said the crash was a private matter, and he intended to keep it that way.

“Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible,” he said. “The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.”

Woods is scheduled to compete at his Chevron World Challenge, which starts Thursday in Thousand Oaks, Calif., although his tournament director did not know Woods’ status for the tournament — whether he would play or even attend.

Even with his first public comments on the 2:25 a.m. Friday accident, Woods left several questions.

– Where he was going at that time of the night?

– How did he lose control of his SUV at such a speed that the air bags didn’t deploy?

– Why were both rear windows of the Cadillac Escalade smashed?

– If it was a careless mistake, why not speak to state troopers trying to wrap the investigation?

“We have been informed by the Florida Highway Patrol that further discussion with them is both voluntary and optional,” Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said in an e-mail. “Although Tiger realizes that there is a great deal of public curiosity, it has been conveyed to FHP that he simply has nothing more to add and wishes to protect the privacy of his family.”

Woods’ wife turned troopers away from their home in the exclusive gated community outside Orlando on Friday, the day of the accident, because she said he was sleeping. Steinberg called troopers en route to Woods’ house on Saturday and postponed the meeting until Sunday.

“We’re just continuing our traffic crash investigation,” Montes said. “If we have somebody who we feel is pertinent to the investigation, then we will interview them.”

She said the 911 caller was interviewed Saturday, and investigators might speak with other people who were at the scene as well.

The FHP released the 911 call from an unidentified neighbor on Sunday.

“I have a neighbor, he hit the tree. And we came out here just to see what was going on. I see him and he’s laying down,” the neighbor told dispatchers without ever identifying the victim as Woods.

Asked if the victim was unconscious, the neighbor replied, “Yes.”

Part of the call were inaudible because of a bad connection. At one point, the voice of a woman is heard yelling, “What happened!”

“We’re just trying to get the police here right now,” the neighbor says to the woman. “We don’t know what happened. We’re figuring that out right now. I’m on the phone with the police right now.”

According to the FHP accident report, Woods had just pulled out of his driveway when he struck a fire hydrant and then a tree. Woods said he had cuts, bruising and “right now I’m a little sore.”

Montes said the Woods’ car was towed for “safekeeping,” and authorities have already documented where the damage is on the vehicle and the point of impact.

The accident came two days after the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York night club hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters.

The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by The Associated Press.

Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred confirmed she was representing Uchitel when she was reached by the AP on Sunday.

“She is with me in L.A.,” Allred said later in an e-mail to the AP. “We plan to meet and then we’ll decide on the next step, which we do not plan to announce to the press.”

Uchitel arrived at Los Angeles International Airport late Sunday morning, where she was met by Allred and escorted out of the baggage claim area and into a black car. Uchitel did not speak to reporters except to ask that she be left alone.

Aside from occasional criticism of his temper inside the ropes, Woods has kept himself out of the news beyond his sport. In an October posting on his Facebook account, Woods wrote, “I’m asked why people don’t often see me and Elin in gossip magazines or tabloids. I think we’ve avoided a lot of media attention because we’re kind of boring. …”

——

AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson in Jacksonville, and Associated Press writers Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles, and Sarah Larimer in Miami contributed to this report.

 

More Fred Goodall.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 23 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

You know about his Masters wins and, now, his infidelity. Tiger Woods, the most successful American golfer of our time, put his marriage in jeopardy when his wife, Elin Nordegren, found out about his mistresses.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
2792 points2793 points | 1341 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
882 points883 points | 434 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
127 points128 points | 41 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
23 points24 points | 13 comments
vote
Recent scandals are Whitewater redux, not Watergate
14 points15 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations