Tiger Woods car crash: Golfer found unconscious, documents reveal

image copyrightReuters

image captionThe SUV being driven by the champion golfer was badly damaged in the crash

Tiger Woods was found unconscious after his car crash in California last month, it has emerged.

A man who lives nearby said he heard the crash and walked to the scene where he found the golfer with his face and chin covered in blood, court documents based on a police affidavit show.

He said he tried to speak to the champion but did not get a response.

Woods required lengthy surgery to a fractured leg and shattered ankle after the accident in Los Angeles County.

Police have said there was no evidence that he was impaired by drugs or alcohol.

The first emergency crews who arrived at the scene reported that Woods was "calm and lucid" as he was cut from the wreck of the SUV.

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It had not been previously disclosed that Woods had lost consciousness.

In the affidavit, filed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, police said that Woods could not remember driving. Officers had to tell him he had been in a crash, according to the documents.

The local resident who first found him has not been named.

Police filed the affidavit in order to try to obtain the SUV's data recorder for the investigation into what caused the crash. "I believe the data will explain how/why the collision occurred," Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Johann Schloegl wrote.

image copyrightEPA

image captionPolice have said Tiger Woods was lucky to survive such a serious crash

Police have previously said that Woods was driving alone along a downhill stretch of road that has a high frequency of accidents.

His car struck the central reservation, crossed into the opposite lane, rolled over several times and then plunged off the road and down an embankment.

County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said that it was "purely an accident".

Woods suffered "open fractures" on the tibia and fibula of his lower right leg and a rod was inserted into the tibia. Injuries to his foot and ankle were stabilised with screws and pins.