Investigator suspected Tiger Woods was under the influence at time of accident

Investigators suspected that golfer Tiger Woods was under the influence when he crashed his sport-utility vehicle outside his Isleworth, Fla., home, but an attempt to collect medical evidence was denied by the Orange-Osceola state attorney’s office, according to a law enforcement document.

A witness who pulled Woods out of the Cadillac Escalade said the golfer “consumed alcohol earlier in the day” before the Nov. 27 accident, the record released by the state attorney’s office said. The unnamed witness also said Woods had been prescribed Ambien, a drug used to treat insomnia, and Vicodin, a painkiller.

The witness is not identified by name in the document released Monday.

Woods’ wife, Elin Nordegren Woods, has been identified in other reports as the person who pulled the golfer from the vehicle. She told Windermere police that she broke open a window with a golf club and dragged her husband out of the SUV.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol said she could not immediately confirm the person’s identity. She declined further comment.

Neither Woods nor his wife could be reached for comment. Woods’ agent did not return a call seeking comment.

Confirmation that Woods was a DUI suspect was part of a one-page, Nov. 30 request by FHP Trooper Joshua A. Evans to the state attorney’s office. Evans asked for help obtaining a subpoena for “medical blood results” from Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, where Woods was treated after the accident.

Assistant State Atty. Steve Foster, head of the state attorney’s office’s intake division, denied the request because of “insufficient information,” the document states.

A neighbor and his sister who came to Woods’ aid immediately after the incident told FHP troopers Woods did not smell of alcohol and that there was no evidence he was on drugs. FHP decided not to pursue a criminal case, and Woods was ticketed for careless driving Dec. 1. He paid a $164 fine and received four points against his driver’s license.

Woods’ celebrity did not factor in the state attorney’s office’s decision, spokeswoman Danielle Tavernier said.

To be successful, a subpoena request must prove there is “probable cause” to think a crime has been committed, experts said.

In a Florida DUI case, the smell of alcohol on a driver’s breath or evidence that prescription drugs were consumed are not enough by themselves to constitute probable cause.

Windermere police Monday released its report on the Woods crash shortly after it appeared on Radar Online, a pop-culture website.

Officers Brandon McDonnell and Jason Sipos were the first law-enforcement officers to reach the crash scene, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Woods’ Escalade was still running, and its front passenger door was jammed closed by the crash impact, according to the report. Officers found $235 in the SUV’s center console.

A golf cart was parked nearby, and two golf clubs were lying on the ground. Woods wasn’t responsive. He had lacerations to his lips and blood in his mouth, McDonnell wrote.

wmariano@orlandosentinel.com

hcurtis@orlandosentinel.com

Susan Jacobson and Bianca Prieto of the Orlando Sentinel contributed to this report.