Investigators in the Tiger Woods crash have secured a search warrant to recover the “black box” from his SUV that he crashed on Feb. 23.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the warrant, but authorities said it was a “routine component” of a normal accident investigation and does not mean the 45-year-old would face criminal charges.
The black box in a car normally records the vehicle’s speed at the time of a crash. It may also indicate whether or not the brakes were applied, airbags were deployed, and seatbelts were worn, among other things.
According to USA Today, Sheriff’s Deputy John Schloegl said, “We’re trying to determine if a crime was committed.” He explained further, “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.” He said, “We determine if there was a crime. If there was no crime, we close out the case, and if it was a regular traffic collision.”
Tiger will not be facing criminal charges, according to Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who also indicated that the worst that could happen is that Woods receives an infraction if police determine he was driving while distracted.
“We do not contemplate any charges whatsoever in this crash,” Villanueva said. “This remains an accident. An accident is not a crime.”
Both Villanueva and Schloegl have stated that there is no evidence to support the claim that Tiger was intoxicated while driving on February 23, which is why officials never made a deliberate attempt to collect a blood sample.
Woods was seriously injured in the car accident and is currently still hospitalized in Los Angeles.
