Tiger Woods fined over accident

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 1:34 pm

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 on Tuesday.

Woods faces a 164 US dollars 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 at 2:25 a.m. Friday.

The airbags did not deploy and Woods’ wife told Windermere police she used a golf club to smash the back windows to help him out.

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

Woods’ presence is larger than ever, even though he chose to not to attend the tournament, sponsored by his own Tiger Woods Foundation.

Most players at the Chevron World Challenge, even those who are close to Woods, have not heard from him and don’t know what to think.

Since the accident, tabloids and gossip Web sites have fuelled 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 neighbours who dialled 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.

Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Kim Montes said there were no claims of domestic violence and insufficient evidence to issue a subpoena for additional medical information that may exist in this case.

Bill Sharpe, an attorney for the neighbours, said Woods’ injuries were consistent with a car wreck and inconsistent with him being beat up.

Sharpe said neighbour 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.

He said the neighbours found Nordegren kneeling beside her husband, upset about his injuries.