Tiger Woods Is Probably Owed An Apology By All Of Us
ESPN reports on golf legend Tiger Woods DUI arrest:
The police had to wake up Tiger Woods when they approached his running vehicle prior to arresting him on a DUI charge early Monday morning, according to a police report.
According to the report, the officer said Woods “had extremely slow and slurred speech” and struggled with several roadside tasks. The report noted that the golfer changed his story about where he was going and where he was coming from, originally saying that he was coming from “L.A.” and on his way to “Orange County” before stating that he had no idea where he was. Woods was arrested in Jupiter, Florida.
Woods told police he was taking several prescriptions, including two painkillers. Police said Woods was “cooperative as much as possible” and that he agreed to take a breath test and a urine test. He blew a 0.00 in the breath test.
According to a more detailed police report issued Tuesday afternoon, both tires on the driver’s side of Woods’ car were flat at the time of his arrest and there was damage to the front and rear bumpers.
In a statement released Monday night, Woods had said alcohol was not a factor in his arrest, which he said stemmed from an “unexpected reaction” to prescription medication.
Tiger Woods
When it was first reported that Tiger was arrested for a DUI, we all thought he was hammered. That’s not the case. It’s actually much more complicated than that especially when looking at Florida law. I’m not going to get too deeply into criminal law, specifically a crime requiring a guilty act and a guilty mind nor the reasonable person standard. Let’s just look at Florida law:
316.193 Driving under the influence; penalties.—
(1) A person is guilty of the offense of driving under the influence and is subject to punishment as provided in subsection (2) if the person is driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle within this state and:
(a) The person is under the influence of alcoholic beverages, any chemical substance set forth in s. 877.111, or any substance controlled under chapter 893, when affected to the extent that the person’s normal faculties are impaired;
(b) The person has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood; or
(c) The person has a breath-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.
We know blood alcohol level is not an issue here so we’ll have to look at 877.111 as chapter 893 deals with chemicals which are not a factor here as far as we know. The statute:
877.111 Inhalation, ingestion, possession, sale, purchase, or transfer of harmful chemical substances; penalties.—
(1) It is unlawful for any person to inhale or ingest, or to possess with intent to breathe, inhale, or drink, any compound, liquid, or chemical containing toluol, hexane, trichloroethylene, acetone, toluene, ethyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone, trichloroethane, isopropanol, methyl isobutyl ketone, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, cyclohexanone, nitrous oxide, diethyl ether, alkyl nitrites (butyl nitrite), or any similar substance for the purpose of inducing a condition of intoxication or which distorts or disturbs the auditory, visual, or mental processes. This section does not apply to the possession and use of these substances as part of the care or treatment of a disease or injury by a practitioner licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, part I of chapter 464, or chapter 466 or to beverages controlled by the provisions of chapter 561, chapter 562, chapter 563, chapter 564, or chapter 565.
Obviously, these drugs were prescribed to Tiger by his doctor. What we don’t know is whether he was abusing them or not. What we do know is that our jump to say that Tiger Woods is spiraling out of control due to this arrest may have been premature.
