Police: Surveillance Shows Venus Williams 'Lawfully Entered' Intersection In Fatal Crash
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PALM BEACH (CBSMiami) – Is Venus Williams in the clear? Police say new video shows she did nothing wrong before a crash that killed a man.
Initially, police in Palm Beach Gardens said Williams was at fault for the collision on June 9th.
New surveillance video of the crash shows Williams' 2010 Toyota Sequoia entering the Palm Beach Gardens intersection on a green light.
In the upper part of the video, she pauses briefly in the middle of the intersection as a car turns left and then continues. That's when her car was struck by a Honda driven by Linda Barson, whose 78-year-old husband Jerome died from his injuries two weeks after the crash.
Before they got this new evidence, police said Williams was at fault and violated Barson's right of way. But in light of the footage the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department released a statement exonerating Williams.
The statement read:
"It has been determined the vehicle driven by Venus Williams lawfully entered the intersection on a circular green traffic signal, and attempted to travel north through the intersection to Ballenisles Drive."
Earlier this week, during a press conference at Wimbledon, Williams broke down when asked about the deadly crash.
The Barson family filed a wrong death suit against Williams.
They released this statement Friday, which read, in part:
"The video released by the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department continues to support the fact that Ms. Williams remained in the intersection at a red light, violating the Barson's right of way."