[Updated with new information]
For a third time, golfer Tiger Woods has cancelled a scheduled meeting with Florida Highway Patrol officers who want to interview him about the incident in which the SUV he was driving hit a fire hydrant and a tree outside his home at 2:25 a.m. Friday. Officers first tried to talk to Woods Friday afternoon, but were told he was sleeping and would talk to them on Saturday. They tried again Saturday, and were again refused access and told Woods would talk to them Sunday. Then, on Sunday, Woods cancelled yet again.
It seems safe to say that neither Woods nor his wife Elin Woods are eager to talk about the incident that has become the first blemish on Woods’ almost flawless professional and personal image. The intense tabloid interest in the case could produce press reports of marital problems, reckless behavior and a less-than-perfect picture of Woods’ extraordinary career and life. It’s to be expected that Woods would want to minimize the damage.
But is there any other reason he might be putting off his session with the cops? Could he be considering his options in the face of serious legal consequences from what seems, on the surface, a minor incident? To sort through some of the problems that Woods might be facing, I talked to a long-time Florida lawyer who has experience with the sort of issues raised by Friday’s events.
The first thing to remember, says the lawyer, is that investigators will most likely know only what Woods and his wife tell them about the circumstances leading up to the incident. Authorities have the power to prosecute a domestic violence case even if neither side wants to press charges, but that would normally happen only if they had solid evidence of a serious crime. “The authorities can prosecute, even if the victim doesn’t complain,” the lawyer says, “but they can’t prosecute what they don’t know. If nobody knows, nobody knows.” Neither Woods nor his wife has to tell investigators everything that happened.
Of course, many observers suspect that Elin Woods, perhaps angry over the National Enquirer’s report that her husband has had an affair, attacked Tiger Woods in some sort of physical way. The legal consequences depend on precisely how that happened. “If a wife scratched her husband, that would be a misdemeanor,” the lawyer says. “But if there is evidence of striking with a golf club, that is a more serious charge. That would be a felony.”
Proving that happened, in the absence of any testimony from the participants, would require quite a bit of investigation — more than is normally done in this sort of case. “To do a more serious investigation would be disparate treatment,” says the lawyer. “They wouldn’t do that in a case involving an average couple. It would likely be a misdemeanor investigation. In an average domestic violence call, they either arrest one of the parties or they don’t.” A big investigation, the lawyer says, “would be very rare in a misdemeanor case.”
But what if she did hit him with the golf club? The lawyer says a more intensive probe could occur “in serious cases where there is a seriously injured person.” In Florida, “serious injury” usually involves permanent injury or disfigurement, and the speed with which Tiger Woods was treated and released at a local hospital does not suggest that was involved. We’ll probably learn more about the extent of his injuries in the next few days.
If there were a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, the lawyer says, “the perpetrator could either be arrested or receive a summons to come to court. He or she could receive a maximum sentence of one year in jail, but more likely, if it’s a first offense, they would have to go through a domestic intervention program — a counter-domestic violence class.”
If Elin Woods struck her husband’s car, and not him, with the golf club, then there would likely be no charges involved. And as far as Woods’ driving is concerned, the lawyer says, “I don’t think hitting a fire hydrant or a tree means anything. It’s just an accident.” The only way in which it would be something more serious is if the Highway Patrol had reason to believe Woods was impaired by drugs or alcohol, which so far is not the case.
In the end, it appears Woods is acting more to protect his reputation than to shield himself or his wife from any legal charges. Highway Patrol officers want him to talk to them, but he does not have to be entirely open with them, and under normal circumstances they would not pursue this case with the same intensity they would if it were a serious crime. So just because there might be a really, really interesting story behind the events of early Friday morning, it doesn’t mean the authorities will find out what it is. That’s what the tabloids are for.
