Tiger Woods in “accidente horrifico” in Rancho Palos Verdes

Michael Collins was talking to me from my car speaker on his Sirius XM Radio show. Tiger Woods had been injured in a vehicle crash.

When I got to a television screen, helicopters confirmed the disaster. It was unimaginable. The front of the SUV was smushed. The windshield had been broken. Airbags were visible. His luggage was carefully stacked up in a pile, obviously removed from the SUV by police or emergency personnel, and there was a black Nike swoosh cap on top of the stack of Woods’ possessions. It was sad. Very sad.

After he was removed from the crunched pile of metal and glass, Woods was taken to a hospital and was in surgery with injuries to his legs. No sugar-coating this one. It was not going to be good. You had to wonder about his back as well as the rest of him.

Police investigators walked Hawthorne Road, drawing paint circles around parts of the car. The license plate, other bits and bobs.

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Meanwhile, Woods was being surgically repaired at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center where ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne said she knew the road where Woods lost control of his vehicle and noted that it is a dangerous roadway.

The rest of the details came from the LA County Sheriff’s Department press conference are as follows:

Daryl Osby, Fire Chief La County, confirmed that jaws of life were not used to extract Woods from the vehicle.

He said that a pry bar and an ax were used. Officers confirmed that Woods had injuries to both legs. However, they noted that the interior of the SUV was intact, and the airbags had deployed.

When asked what he hit, we were told he hit a Rolling Hills Estates sign, went across the center median, struck an eight inch tree, which was sheared off, and rolled over several times.

The first officer on the scene, Carlos Gonzalez, said Woods was conscious and that they spoke. Woods told Gonzales his name was “Tiger,” and right away Gonzalez realized who it was. Gonzalez said that he did not want to risk further injury to Woods, so rather than try to extricate him from the SUV, he waited for the emergency medical team.

Woods was not able to stand after the accident, Gonzalez said. Woods was not impaired according to the officers on the scene. He was wearing his seat belt.

A neighbor was responsible for calling 911, and the neighbor also came down to the site when police arrived. Her house was above the crash scene on a bluff. There was another accident on the same road going the opposite direction, they thought, as a result of watching what happened to Wood’s SUV. There were no injuries, or no serious injuries in that one.

According to Gonzalez, the particular stretch of Hawthorne Road is accident prone and has had many fatalities. It is easy for people to get over the speed limit. He said he has clocked drivers at 80 MPH in that spot before. The road was described as a downhill and sweeping curve.

Regarding Woods condition, a back board and splints were used to protect Woods during transport to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He was still in surgery when the press conference was held, which was 10 hours after the crash.

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is a Trauma Center. The Sherriff said that Woods was not so serious that he had to be airlifted, but that he had serious injuries. The procedure for a rollover crash like the one Woods had is to take victims to the nearest trauma center, not the nearest hospital.

On the plus side for purposes of information, Officer Gonzalez was wearing a body cam, which he said is standard procedure.

Alex Villanueva, the police chief said, in translating to Spanish media, that it was an “accidente horrifico.”

Truer words were never spoken.

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