THE neighbor who called 911 and helped to lift Tiger Woods from the mangled car wreck has been hailed a “hero.”
A married man in his 60’s who lived next to the infamous crash site was the one who rushed to try and save Woods, The Sun has been told.
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The man indicated he did not want to speak when he was approached by The Sun as he drove away from his house on Wednesday morning.
But another neighbor in Rancho Palos Verdes said: “He’s a hero, we heard he rushed from his house to Tiger’s car as soon as he called 911.
“He helped officers to get Tiger out when they arrived. The crash was right behind his house so when he heard it he knew it was a bad accident straight away.”
The 45-year-old golf ace had to be cut from the wreckage of the SUV he was driving before being transferred to hospital by paramedics in Los Angeles.
The latest Tiger Woods crash update comes as:
He had emergency surgery last night after being freed by firefighters from the mangled vehicle at an accident blackspot in Rancho Palos Verdes shortly after 7.15am on Tuesday.
Woods reportedly hit a raised central reservation at “speed”, smashed through a street sign, hit a tree and then flipped a $50,000 Genesis GV80 SUV several times.
The vehicle came to rest in bushes at the side of the road where Woods was found trapped inside the car by Deputy Carlos Gonzalez, who was alerted by a neighbor who heard the crash.
Doctors said Woods suffered “comminuted” fractures in the upper and lower parts of the tibia and fibula – meaning the breaks had led to bone splintering.
They fitted metal rods, screws and pins to his shattered right shinbone and calf bone following the crash.
He was this morning said to be “awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room” as footage of him emerged behind the wheel which was filmed just before the crash.
Shocking 911 audio, obtained by The Sun, revealed the moment that cops were alerted to the scene on Tuesday morning.
The dispatch caller raised the alarm just before 7.30 PST saying there had been a “traffic collision” and “a person is trapped.”
They then said: “Sheriff on scene. Vehicle off the side of the road.”
During a press conference on Wednesday Deputy Gonzalez confirmed that Woods will not be facing criminal charges.
“We don’t contemplate any charges whatsoever in this crash,” he said. “This remains an accident, an accident is not a crime, they do happen unfortunately.”
Asked whether or not any drugs of alcohol tests were done at the scene, Gonzalez said: “The Deputy on the scene assessed the condition of Tiger Woods and there was no evidence of any impairment whatsoever.
“He was lucid – no evidence of alcohol, no evidence of any medication or narcotics.”
Reiterating that he does not believe that Woods was under the influence of alcohol, Gonzalez said “he was not drunk… we can throw that one out.”
The Deputy added that there was a black box in the vehicle which will be pulled, suggesting “speed may be a factor in this accident.”
Photographs and bodycam footage was also captured at the scene and will be used for the department’s investigation.
