On this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, golfer Tiger Woods sits in an unmarked police vehicle as he speaks with law enforcement personnel following a automotive crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
After crashing his SUV last week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his phone and told a deputy, “I used to be just talking to the president,” in keeping with body camera footage released Thursday showing Woods’ arrest on a DUI charge.
The phone conversation was not captured on video, but Woods may very well be heard saying, “Thanks a lot,” as he hung up and the deputy approached. It wasn’t clear if Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump, is dating Woods.
READ: Bodycam shows a stunned Tiger Woods handcuffed after crash
Shortly after the golfer’s March 27 arrest, Trump was asked about Woods and told reporters: “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. Very close friend of mine. He’s an incredible person. Amazing man. But, some difficulty.”
The White House didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on whether Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.
READ: Tiger Woods says he’ll seek treatment after DUI arrest
The footage also shows how Woods seemed to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a sobriety test and a video from the back of the patrol automotive shows the handcuffed golfer hiccupping, yawning and repeatedly appearing to nod off in the course of the 15-minute ride.
On this image from video provided by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, golfer Tiger Woods is strapped right into a police vehicle following a automotive crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
Woods told authorities he was his phone and changing the radio station when his speeding Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on a residential road on Jupiter Island. Nobody was injured.
“I looked down at my phone, and swiftly — boom,” Woods told an officer as he knelt on a lawn, prior to his arrest.
READ: Tiger Woods arrested, charged with DUI after Florida crash
Body camera footage shows Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar then conducting a roadside sobriety test and telling Woods: “I do consider your normal faculties are impaired, and also you’re under an unknown substance, so right now you’re under arrest for DUI.”
“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded.
“Yes, sir,” Levenar said.
After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and located two white pills.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out the pills, referring to a painkiller that comprises acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities would later confirm that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
Within the body camera footage, Woods told Levenar that he had not drunk any alcohol and that he had taken “just a few” medications earlier within the day, though Woods’ words are muted within the released video as he describes among the drugs.
On the sheriff’s office complex, after Woods was escorted into the “DUI room” where drivers are tested for being under the influence, Woods said, “I’m not drunk. I’m on a prescription medication,” in keeping with a supplemental sheriff’s office report released Thursday.
Woods, 50, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to suspicion of driving under the influence. He posted a press release Tuesday night saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to hunt treatment and give attention to my health.”
Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test, authorities said. Under a change to Florida law last 12 months, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood or urine test became a misdemeanor, even for a primary offense.
Throughout the field sobriety test, deputies noticed Woods limping and that he had a compression sock over his right knee. Woods explained he had undergone seven back surgeries and over 20 surgeries on his right leg, and that his ankle seizes up while walking.
Woods, who was hiccupping during questioning, constantly moved his head during considered one of the sobriety tests and deputies had to inform him several times to maintain his head straight, in keeping with an arrest report.
“Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to soundly operate the motorcar,” Levenar wrote.
Woods is probably the most influential figure in golf and has turn out to be as recognizable as any athlete on the earth. The primary person of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf fans with records likely never to be broken.
His injuries have kept him from accomplishing more, including from a 2021 Los Angeles automotive crash that damaged his right leg so badly he said doctors considered amputation. He has not played an official event for the reason that 2024 British Open. He was recovering from a seventh back surgery in October and was attempting to return on the Masters, where he’s a five-time champion.