Why Florida State Attorney agreed to plea deal with Tiger Woods
State Attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit, Thomas Bakkedahl, explained to reporters the reasons his office agreed to reduced charges against Tiger Woods.
A reduced charge does not reduce the seriousness, or the wrongness, of what Tiger Woods did.
Let’s hope he understands that because his attorney’s comments Wednesday, Sept. 2, following the plea deal from Woods’ latest DUI arrest weren’t exactly encouraging. Woods lost his driver’s license for five years after pleading no contest to charges of reckless driving and refusal to submit to a lawful test.
“The ultimate decision was made to bring closure to the case,” Woods’ attorney Douglas Duncan told TV station WPBF, “and to allow Tiger and his family to move on with their lives.”
Tiger Woods lucky no one was hurt in latest crash
“Move on with their lives.” As if this was a minor fender-bender or a ticket for trespassing rather than the averted catastrophe that it was.
Woods endangered lives with this latest DUI incident, clipping a pickup truck towing a small trailer while trying to overtake it at high speed in his neighborhood. After his SUV flipped, it skidded down the street before coming to a stop within inches of a sidewalk.
Though Woods blew a 0.0 on two alcohol breath tests, officers on the scene of the March 27 crash believed he was impaired. Two hydrocodone pills were found in his pocket, and he spent weeks at a rehab center in Switzerland after the crash.
Given Woods’ medical history, it’s not surprising if he was once again abusing painkillers. He told police after the crash he’s had seven back surgeries and more than 20 procedures on his leg, and that his ankle seizes when he walks.
The pain must be as excruciating as it is constant. Only the most hard-hearted person in the world wouldn’t feel sympathy for someone being betrayed by the very body that made him a global icon.
But it doesn’t excuse what Woods did. Imagine if a car had been approaching from the other direction. Or his kids had been with him. Or, God forbid, his SUV had skidded a few inches farther and someone had been on that sidewalk.
“Sir, I want you to understand that five years of (no) driving is for the safety of the public. There are no exceptions,” Martin County (Florida) Judge Darren Steele told Woods on Wednesday, Sept. 2. “If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail.”
No school runs. No quick errands. No driving to a friend’s house. Woods can’t even tool around in a golf cart if it’s on a public roadway, though he will be able to drive a cart if he’s on a golf course or in a private community.
It’s a harsh sentence, and it’s more than just.
Tiger Woods can ensure this doesn’t happen again
Again, addiction is a nasty disease, one that exacts a toll on the addict and everyone around him or her. But Woods at least has the resources to put one part of his life beyond his addiction’s control, to protect the public from being collateral damage.
All he has to do is hire a driver.
With a net worth of at least $1.5 billion, according to Forbes, there is no reason for Woods to be driving himself. He can easily hire people who will be at his beck and call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Put the keys in their hands and keep himself and everyone else out of harm’s way.
“If I can send any message to Mr. Woods, it’s simply this: Of all the people in the world who should not get behind the wheel of a car, it’s the gentleman who is one of the most recognizable faces on the planet,” State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl said after the hearing.
“Somebody will see it whether it’s in Georgia or Nevada, New York or where have you. He’s not to drive a car.”
If he does, Woods will, as the judge said, go to jail. So he has a choice to make: “Move on” with his life as if this was no big deal, and it may only be a matter of time before Woods is standing in another courtroom. Or take the gravity of these last six months to heart and get the help, literally and figuratively, that he needs.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.