Tiger Woods 'fortunate to come out of crash alive', police officer says

24 February 2021, 19:44

Tiger Woods is "fortunate to be alive" and didn't realised how bad his injuries were after his horror car crash on Tuesday, the first police officer on the scene has said.

The golfing legend suffered serious leg injuries after his 2021Genesis SUV rolled 12 metres off the road shortly after 7am in Los Angeles.

The 15-time major winner is now in a serious but stable condition after undergoing surgery.

No other cars were involved in the incident, and pictures of the scene showed his vehicle on its side with the airbags deployed.

Read more: Tiger Woods 'in stable but serious condition' after car crash in Los Angeles

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy Carlos Gonzalez was first on the scene, and arrived just minutes after the initial 911 call.

He told NBC news: "He didn't mention anything. I don't think he was aware of how gravely he was injured at the time.

"It could be a mixture of adrenaline. It could have been shock."

Authorities have said there is no evidence Woods was impaired at the time of the smash.

Mr Gonzales says he was "unaware" is a toxicology report was taking place.

"At the scene we are looking for evidence of intoxication, like if there is an odour of an alcoholic beverage or if there is an open container, or prescription medication, he said.

"At this time we didn't see any evidence of impairment, and anything beyond that, in terms of medical or toxicology, I wouldn't be aware at this time."

Mr Gonzales said Woods was wearing his seatbelt at the time, which may have prevented his injuries, which were already severe, from being worse.

"This accident was traumatic in many ways," he said.

There is a lot of energy that went into the speeds that made the vehicle travel the distances that it did, the fact that it rolled, the injuries that Mr Woods sustained, and I've seen collisions that didn't look as serious where the occupants were injured much more severely.

"I think that is a testament to the fact that he was wearing a seat belt, the airbags worked as intended and modern vehicles are much more safe than they used to be."