Los Angeles (AFP)

Tiger Woods was driving at a "dangerous" speed of 140 km / h, nearly double the limit, in his car crash in California in February, the Los Angeles County Sheriff said on Wednesday.

The golf star's vehicle had rolled off the road before rolling several times in Ranchos Palos Verdes, near Los Angeles, and Tiger Woods, 45, had his right leg broken.

"The main cause of this accident was driving at dangerous speeds given the road conditions and the inability to negotiate the bend," Sheriff Alex Villanueva told a press conference.

"The estimated speeds at the first impact zone ranged from 84 to 87 miles per hour," or 135 to 140 km / h, he said.

There is "no sign of impairment" of his abilities at the time of the accident, or evidence of "inattentive driving", and Tiger Woods has voluntarily allowed the results of the investigation to be made public. stressed police officials.

The golfer may have depressed the accelerator while attempting to apply the brakes instead as the vehicle lost control, suggested Police Captain James Powers, although Tiger Woods himself did not. have no recollection of it.

Investigators did not check Tiger Woods' phone or analyze his blood samples due to "the lack of evidence of any impairment (of abilities) or intoxication," he added.

The two police officials claimed that Tiger Woods had not received preferential treatment, and that he had not been fined for speeding due to the absence of witnesses or the police at the time of the 'accident.

The golfer will not be prosecuted either.

The crash would have been further investigated "if there was a significant injury or death" and if it involved someone else, Powers said.

The latter brushed aside claims the golfer was seen driving erratically earlier in the morning, claiming to reporters that CCTV footage shows him driving at normal and careful speeds at the start of his ride.

- Career in danger -

On February 23, Woods lost control of the car he was driving and rolled over several times on a steep, crash-prone road near Los Angeles.

The emergency services had to use a specialized tool and an ax to extract the star from his car, described as "lucid and calm" by the first police officer to arrive on the scene.

Evacuated to the Harbor-UCLA trauma center, Woods had been operated on for a long time, in particular for multiple open fractures in the right leg which required to insert a metal rod in the tibia and screws to consolidate the bones of the foot and the leg. ankle.

Three days later, he was transferred to Cedars-Sinai for orthopedic treatment.

After three weeks of hospitalization, he returned home to Florida where he is continuing his recovery, without anyone knowing what his future might be in golf.

Woods is not, however, close to a comeback.

He has recovered from almost all injuries in his 25-year career, including multiple back operations, including arthrodesis, a painful fusion of vertebrae.

This had not prevented him in 2019, after eleven years of scarcity in Major, to win his 5th Masters of Augusta, his 15th Grand Slam, then to equal the same year the record for the number of titles on the PGA circuit ( 82) until then the sole property of Sam Snead.

In early January, a month and a half before his accident, Woods had just had his back surgery for the fifth time and feared he would not be able to defend his chances in April in Augusta.

This was not the first road incident for the golf star.

In November 2019, he crashed into a tree and fire hydrant outside his Florida home.

The accident had sparked a series of scandalous revelations that doomed her marriage and saw her golfing ability plummet.

In May 2017, he was arrested near his home for falling asleep while driving his car in the middle of a traffic lane.

Tiger Woods said he took medication and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

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