On a Friday afternoon this past March, Tiger Woods rolled his SUV on Jupiter Island, climbed out the window, and was arrested on suspicion of DUI. The detail that confused a lot of people watching: the breath test reportedly read 0.00. No alcohol. He was charged with DUI anyway, along with property damage and refusing a test. It was not the first time. Back in 2017, deputies found him asleep at the wheel of a running car in Jupiter, again with no alcohol in his system, and that case ended with a plea to reckless driving.
So how do you get arrested for driving under the influence when you have not had a drink? In Florida, a 0.00 on the breath machine does not clear you. Here is the law that explains it, and why a case like this is often more defensible than a straight alcohol DUI. Nothing here is a comment on Mr. Woods’s guilt. He has not been convicted of the recent charge, and we do not represent him. It is a window into how Florida treats a DUI with no alcohol.
A Florida DUI is not only an alcohol charge
Florida’s DUI statute, section 316.193, does not require alcohol. It makes it a crime to drive or be in actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a controlled substance, or any chemical substance, to the point that your normal faculties are impaired. The familiar 0.08 figure applies only to alcohol. When the State’s theory is drugs, there is no number at all. The question is simply whether you were impaired. That is why a breath test reading 0.00 rules out alcohol and nothing else, and why a drug DUI can move forward on a clean breath sample.
A prescription is not a free pass
In 2017, Woods said alcohol was not involved and blamed an unexpected reaction to a mix of medications prescribed for pain and sleep. Under Florida law, that explanation does not end a case, because the statute does not care whether a drug was legal or prescribed. If a medication impairs your ability to drive, a painkiller, an anti-anxiety drug, or a sleep aid can support a DUI the same way an illegal drug would. The prescription label is not a defense to impairment, though it can matter a great deal to how a case is fought and resolved.
You do not have to be driving
The 2017 case shows something many folks do not know. Woods was found asleep, parked on the side of the road, engine running. He was not driving. Florida still calls that actual physical control: if you are in the vehicle and in a position to operate it, with the keys within reach, you can be charged even while parked and even while asleep. People who pull over to sleep it off are sometimes stunned to learn they sit squarely inside the statute.
No breath number, so how do they try to prove it?
Without a number, a drug DUI leans on softer evidence, and every piece of it can be questioned. There is the officer’s account of how you looked and drove; in the recent case, deputies described Woods as lethargic and said they ran in-depth roadside tests. There are the field sobriety exercises, a Drug Recognition Expert evaluation, and a urine or blood test. The weak link runs through all of it: drugs do not behave like alcohol. There is no level at which everyone is impaired, and a urine test in particular tends to show that a drug was used at some point, not that it was impairing you behind the wheel. That gap between presence and impairment is where these cases are won.
Refusing the test is its own problem
In the recent case, Woods reportedly refused a urine test and was charged with refusal to submit to a lawful test. In Florida, that refusal is not a clean way out. Under the implied consent law, turning down a lawful breath, urine, or blood test triggers a driver license suspension on its own, the refusal can be used against you as evidence, and a second refusal is a separate crime. There can be sound reasons a test gets refused, but it is a decision that carries its own weight, apart from the DUI.
How a case like this tends to end
The 2017 matter resolved the way many first-time Florida DUIs do, especially drug cases where the proof is harder: a plea to reckless driving paired with a diversion program, with probation, a fine, DUI school, and community service, and no DUI conviction on the record. A crash with property damage, like the recent one, raises the stakes, but the same forces are in play, and the weaker the impairment proof, the more room there is to negotiate or to fight.
The same law applies to you, not just to Tiger Woods
Strip away the famous name and this is an ordinary Florida drug DUI, the kind I defend regularly. The lesson is the one most people get backward. A 0.00 breath test is not the end of a case, and a drug DUI is often easier to contest than an alcohol one, because there is no number, the roadside drug evidence is soft, and the science separating use from impairment is hotly contested. I trained on the toxicology instruments and I am NHTSA qualified on the field tests, so this is the ground I work. If you are charged with a DUI and there was no alcohol, the case often has more room to fight than people expect.
This article is general legal commentary on a publicly reported case, drawn from news accounts. It is not legal advice, it is not a statement that anyone is guilty of anything, and The Safir Lawyer does not represent Mr. Woods. An arrest is not a conviction.
Charged with a DUI in the Tampa Bay area?
A breath test that reads zero does not mean the case is over, and a drug DUI is often the most defensible kind. Let’s look at what the State really has.
About the author
Rory Safir is one of a handful of ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in Florida, an NHTSA qualified field sobriety instructor, and a former Assistant Public Defender in Tampa. He trained on the same gas chromatography instruments the State labs use, which is why he reads breath and blood evidence the way an analyst does.
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Common Questions
Can you get a DUI in Florida with no alcohol in your system?
Yes. Florida's DUI law covers impairment by a controlled substance or a chemical substance, not just alcohol. A breath test that reads zero only rules out alcohol. If a drug, including a prescription, impaired your normal faculties, that can be enough.
Is a prescription a defense to a Florida DUI?
No. Florida law does not care whether a drug was prescribed or otherwise legal. If it impaired your ability to drive safely, it can support a DUI. The prescription can still matter to how the case is handled and resolved.
Can you be charged with DUI while parked or asleep?
Yes, through what Florida calls actual physical control. If you are in the vehicle and able to operate it, with the keys within reach, you can be charged even if you were parked and asleep at the time.
What happens if I refuse a breath or urine test in Florida?
Refusing a lawful test triggers a driver license suspension on its own, the refusal can be used against you as evidence, and a second refusal is a separate criminal charge. It is not a clean way to avoid a DUI.