Woods won't face charges after sheriff says car crash was an accident

The rollover car crash that seriously injured Tiger Woods outside Los Angeles on Tuesday was an accident and investigators won't pursue any charges against the golf great, CNN reported. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva confirmed on Wednesday.

"We don't contemplate any charges whatsoever in this crash," Villanueva said in a Facebook Live chat. "This remains an accident. An accident is not a crime. They do happen, unfortunately."

The 45-year-old golf legend was driving shortly after 7 a.m. PT Tuesday in Rancho Palos Verdes when his SUV crossed a median and veered across two lanes of road before hitting a curb, hitting a tree, and landing on its side in the brush, Villanueva said Tuesday.
CNN understands Woods remained conscious and calm but sustained serious leg injuries. Villanueva told CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday that Woods made no comments at the scene regarding the cause of the crash, and when investigators asked him about it at the hospital, "he had no recollection of the crash itself."
Woods underwent lengthy emergency surgery on his lower right leg and ankle at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the statement said. The leg fractures were "comminuted," meaning the bone was broken into more than two parts, and "open," meaning the broken bone was exposed to open air, creating the risk of infection, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anish Mahajan said in the statement.
Orthopedic trauma specialists inserted a rod into his tibia to stabilize both the tibia and fibula bones, stabilized the foot and ankle bones with a combination of screws and pins, and relieving pressure to the muscle and soft tissue of his leg by surgically releasing the covering of the muscle, Mahajan said.
"His right leg was basically crushed," Daniel Rapaport, the Tiger Woods correspondent for Golf Digest, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday.

The crash represents a devastating setback to Woods' hopes of returning to golf glory and comes just a month after his fifth career back surgery. And in a life highlighted by his mastery of the golf course, it's the roadways that have proved most destructive: the 2009 car crash that led to the dissolution of his personal life and the 2017 DUI arrest that stemmed from an addiction to painkillers.

As of overnight Wednesday, Woods was "awake, responsive, and recovering" in the hospital from major surgery, according to a statement on his Twitter account.

Villanueva said that section of road is "downhill on a curve," and he and Gonzalez said the area is known as a trouble spot for speeding and accidents. The road has seen 13 accidents since last January.