Police body camera footage shows how golfer appeared to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing sobriety test.
Published On 3 Apr 2026
After crashing his car last week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his phone and told a Sheriff’s deputy, “I was just talking to the president,” according to body camera footage showing the golfer’s arrest for driving under the influence.
The phone conversation was not captured on video, but Woods could be heard saying, “Thank you so much,” as he hung up and the deputy approached. It’s not clear if Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump, is dating the golfer.
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Shortly after his arrest on March 27, 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 amazing person. Amazing man. But some difficulty.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.
The footage also shows how Woods appeared to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a sobriety test and video from the back of the patrol car shows the handcuffed golfer hiccupping, yawning and repeatedly appearing to nod off during the 15-minute ride.
Woods told police he was looking at 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. No one was injured.
“I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden – boom,” Woods told an officer as he knelt on a lawn, prior to his arrest.
Body camera footage shows Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar then conducting a roadside sobriety test and telling Woods: “I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI.”
“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded.
“Yes, sir,” Levenar said.
After handcuffing Woods, police searched his pockets and found two white pills.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out the pills, referring to a painkiller that contains acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities would later confirm that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
In the body camera footage, Woods told Levenar that he had not drunk any alcohol and that he had taken “a few” medications earlier in the day, though Woods’ words are muted in the released video as he describes some of the drugs.
At 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,” according to a supplemental sheriff’s office report released on Thursday.
Woods, 50, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to suspicion of driving under the influence. He posted a statement Tuesday night saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health”.
Woods agreed to a breathalyser test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test, authorities said. Under a change to Florida law last year, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood or urine test became a misdemeanour, even for a first offence.
During the 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 more than 20 surgeries on his right leg, and that his ankle seizes up while walking.