In body camera footage released by police in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., an officer tells tennis star Venus Williams that she is at fault in a auto crash, but that he is not going to cite her.
In the video Williams asked Officer Dowling, "In a situation like that, what do you do?"
The passenger in the other vehicle, 78-year old Jerome Barson, told officers he was a little confused.
Williams drove a 2010 Toyota Sequoia at an estimated 5 miles per hour and the Barsons, of West Palm Beach, traveled in a 2016 Hyundai Accent at an estimated 25 miles per hour, according to the crash report.
Despite the officers' initial observations, Palm Beach Gardens police released a statement saying Venus lawfully entered the intersection. The other vehicle caused Williams to "stop advancing through the intersection to avoid a collision", a statement from the police department read. When she restarted, the light for the Barson auto had turned green and it plowed into Williams' SUV.
According to the Associated Press, a Palm Beach Gardens body camera video showed Williams listening to a police officer as he explained to her that she likely caused the auto crash.
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The family's attorneys have also requested Williams' phone records because they say security camera footage shows Williams moving her hand towards her face before the collision; they want to know if she was texting or talking on the phone while driving.
Williams Toyota was T-boned by the Barson's Hyundai when the Toyota passed through the intersection in front of the Barsons.
In legal documents filed this week, Williams contends that injuries Jerome and Linda Barson sustained are the result of their own negligence because they weren't wearing seat belts. However, in the clip obtained by The Palm Beach Post Thursday, July 27, he later said he's not entirely sure. She wasn't injured in the crash and appears to be cooperative but visibly upset.
"You had a green light, so you had the right of way when you started to exit but because you got stuck in the middle of the intersection, you lost that right of way", Dowling told Williams, who was dressed in a white tennis shirt and skirt and blue baseball cap. Williams describes what happened and is told: "I will say that you're at fault in this crash, but I'm not citing you for the crash".
"Everybody's telling me the same thing: that you came out of the Steeplechase, and you kind of got stuck", he says. I would just let the insurance companies work it out. "I am not giving you a citation", Dowling told Williams in the video.
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