Investigation in Woods’ car crash dropped

Tiger Woods will be cited for careless driving in a car crash outside his Orlando-area mansion, but will not face criminal charges, the Florida Highway Patrol said yesterday.

Investigation in Woods' car crash dropped

Tiger Woods will be cited for careless driving in a car crash outside his Orlando-area mansion, but will not face criminal charges, the Florida Highway Patrol said yesterday.

Woods faces a $164 (Approx Rs 7, 850) fine and four points against his driver's license, not close to enough to have it suspended. The citation closes the investigation of last week's crash.

According to an accident report, Woods crashed his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree on Friday. The airbags did not deploy and Woods' wife Elin told Windermere police she used a golf club to smash the back windows to help him out.

Woods withdrew on Monday from his own golf tournament, citing injuries from the crash.

Since the accident, tabloids and gossip web sites have fueled speculation about the events leading up to it, including that there may have been a domestic dispute between Woods and his wife.

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

The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denies the affair.

An attorney for the neighbors who dialed 911 after the crash said Woods did not appear to be driving under the influence and showed no signs of having been in a fight. Montes said there were no claims of domestic violence and insufficient evidence to subpoena any medical information.

"Despite the celebrity status of Mr Woods, the Florida Highway Patrol has completed its investigation in the same professional manner it strives to complete each traffic investigation," Montes said.

Bill Sharpe, an attorney for the neighbors, said Woods' injuries were "consistent with a car wreck and inconsistent with him being beat up. The scratches on his face were consistent with someone who maybe was in a minor car accident and hit his head on the windshield. None of his injuries looked like he was beat up by his wife."

Sharpe said neighbor Linda Adams and her two adult sons went outside their home in the exclusive gated community of Isleworth after hearing the crash and Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, asked them to call the 911 emergency number.

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