Tiger Woods loses driver's license for five years in DUI plea deal

Tiger Woods will lose his driver's license for five years after pleading no contest to a reduced charge of reckless driving in a Florida courtroom on Wednesday. The plea resolves a case that began with his arrest in March after a rollover crash near his home in Martin County.

Woods, 50, had initially pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and refusal to submit to testing. Under the agreement with prosecutors, the DUI charge was amended to willful reckless driving, and a second charge was amended to careless driving. The five-year license suspensions will run concurrently.

He will also pay about $2,000 in fines, according to court documents. During the five-minute hearing, Judge Darren Steele warned Woods: "For the safety of the public, if you drive, you will immediately go back to jail."

State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl said the original DUI charge could not be proven because of an "erosion of evidence." While Woods refused a urine test at the scene, two forensic toxicologists reviewed the case and found insufficient proof that a controlled substance impaired him, Bakkedahl said. One expert suggested Woods had developed a tolerance to hydrocodone, the opioid painkiller found in his pocket after the crash.

The March 27 crash happened when Woods' Land Rover clipped a pickup truck and rolled over on a residential street in Jupiter Island, Florida. No one was injured. Body camera footage released in April showed Woods calm and kneeling as he told officers he had looked down at his phone and changed the radio station before the impact.

Woods passed a breathalyzer test but declined a urinalysis screening for other drugs, Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said. Officers said they suspected his "normal faculties" were impaired by an "unknown substance." Authorities later reported finding two hydrocodone pills in his pocket.

Following his arrest, Woods said in a statement that he was stepping away "to seek treatment and focus on my health." He wrote that the decision was necessary to "work toward lasting recovery."

The case marks Woods' second arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to reckless driving and attended a DUI first-offender program after a toxicology report found pain, anxiety and sleeping medications, along with THC, in his system.

Woods' girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, sat behind him in the courtroom. President Donald Trump responded to the plea deal on Wednesday, calling it a "very tough situation" and saying he had previously asked Woods, "Why don't you get somebody to drive you?"

“I'm completely confident and comfortable with the resolution of this case.”

: Florida State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl