Tiger Woods has blamed his early-morning brush with police on a bad reaction to prescription drugs. In a statement responding to the incident – when he was arrested by police in Florida allegedly driving erratically at 3am – Woods said, “I understand the severity of what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions. I want the public to know that alcohol was not involved. What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didn’t realise the mix of medications had affected me so strongly. I would like to apologise with all my heart to my family, friends and the fans. I expect more from myself too.”
According to TMZ, smelling alcohol on Woods’ breath, an officer asked the golfer, who was acting “arrogant,” to take a breathalyser test, but he refused. In Florida, refusing to take a breath test leads to an automatic arrest and the suspension of a driver’s licence. According to the TMZ website, he had been driving a 2015 Mercedes south on Military Trail, in the opposite direction of his Jupiter Island home.
A mugshot released by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office showed what one newspaper described as “a haggard-looking, unshaven Woods staring vacantly at the camera with ruffled hair”. Woods was released from the Palm Beach County Jail on his own recognisance shortly before 11am and someone in his camp picked up his car, TMZ reported, adding that Woods’ representatives called police repeatedly to ask if the arresting cop had a bodycam.
Police did not say if there was anyone else in Woods’ car, and police spokeswoman
Kristin Rightler said she did not know what testing Woods underwent at the scene or in the lockup.
His current girlfriend Kristin Smith reportedly reacted to Woods’ latest dramas by bursting into tears and saying, “I knew it, I knew it.”
Woods’ carefully nurtured clean-cut image was undermined on Thanksgiving night 2009 when his then-wife Elin Nordegren chased him out of their Florida mansion with a golf club after learning of his serial cheating.
Woods crashed his car, and weeks after the infamous incident several women came forward to describe their sexual encounters with him. He eventually entered rehab for sex addiction, and Woods and Nordegren were divorced in 2010.
