According to multiple reports, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has issued a search warrant to collect data from the so-called “black box” of the SUV Tiger Woods was driving when it crashed last week.
In order to obtain a warrant, the probable cause of a crime must be identified, even if it is only a crime. A sheriff’s deputy downplayed the warrant as routine for USA Today Sports on Tuesday, saying he considered it due diligence.
“We are trying to determine if a crime has been committed,” said Sheriff’s deputy John Schloegl. “If someone is involved in a traffic accident, we have to reconstruct the traffic accident, whether it was driving recklessly, whether someone was on their cellphone or something like that. We determine if there was a crime. If there was no crime. Crime,” we close the case, and it was a regular traffic accident. “
The black box data can display the speed, steering angle, acceleration and braking activity of a vehicle.
“As far as getting a warrant or downloading the car, we just do it automatically,” Schloegl told USA Today Sports. “We want to answer, so that’s the route we’re taking.”
Schloegl also said there was “no probable reason” for an order to obtain Woods’ blood that would help determine if he was under the influence of medication.
He said Woods’ camp has been cooperative.
Los Angeles sheriff Alex Villanueva said last week that the crash was “purely an accident” and that his department would not press charges against Woods in relation to the Feb. 23 one-off car accident near the Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho border. Palos Verdes. about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Villanueva said the department considers it an accident, which could at most lead to a crime.
“The sheriff spoke about the information available at the time, saying it appeared to be a traffic accident,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement to USA Today Sports on Tuesday. “However, the road accident investigation is ongoing () and traffic researchers have not drawn any conclusions about the cause of the collision.”
Woods, 45, is recovering at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was transferred from Harbor-UCLA Medical Center “for continued orthopedic care and recovery,” said Dr. Anish Mahajan.