Officials said Tiger Woods was traveling at speeds of between 82mph to 87mph in a 45mph zone when he crashed his SUV.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the main cause of the crash that almost killed the golf champion was "excessive speed."
Woods crashed his SUV in the Rancho Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles while he was en route to a shoot for a television show on Feb. 24. The SUV skidded off the road and flipped before coming to a rest on its side. Woods suffered extensive injuries, including a broken right leg.
Law enforcement officials said Thursday that data recordings from the SUV's black box indicated that Woods may have mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal when he lost control of the vehicle. Officials said Woods hit the accelerator at a "99% rate" prior to the crash.
Lomita Captain James Powers said the vehicle Woods was driving slammed into a tree at 75mph. Woods had repeatedly claimed that he had no memory of the accident. Doctors said he had suffered several blows to his head during the crash.
First responders present after the crash said they found no evidence that Woods had been drinking alcohol or was under the influence of drugs. Powers reiterated the findings Thursday, stating that no evidence was present of drugs or alcohol in the vehicle.
The County Sheriff's Department said it does not intend to conduct a criminal investigation against Woods as there was no probable cause to do so. The department did issue a search warrant for the data recorder on the 2021 Genesis GV80 SUV Woods was driving.
The department also declined to issue a citation against Woods. Powers said no eyewitnesses or police were present during the accident and no evidence is available to support a citation.
"You can do it, but it would be kind of, I don't want to say a waste of time, but a lot of the courts would dismiss it because it wasn't observed by a police officer," Powers said.
L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that a solo traffic collision without any witnesses would not warrant a citation but only an infraction. The decision to only give Woods a slap on the wrist has caused some critics to accuse the department of giving special treatment to the golf legend.
