Venus Williams 'Lawfully' Entered Intersection Before Crash: Police

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — As Venus Williams extended her run at Wimbledon on Friday, police back in her Florida hometown announced that surveillance video revealed the tennis star had "lawfully" entered the intersection where her SUV collided with another car on June 9. Police released surveillance video of the accident but did not say whether they planned to file any charges in the case. The traffic accident proved deadly for 78-year-old Jeremy Barson, whose family has since filed a lawsuit against Williams.

See also: Venus Williams Sued After Man Dies In Car Crash

"Based on the evidence obtained in the ongoing investigation, 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," according to Maj. Paul Rogers of the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department. "As Williams was traveling through the intersection, a Nissan Altima entered the intersection traveling south, and made a left turn in front of William’s vehicle, causing her to stop advancing through the intersection to avoid a collision." (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Patch.)

The crash occurred at 1:13 p.m. at the intersection of Northlake Boulevard and BallenIsles Drive.

After the Nissan passed Williams' SUV, "Williams then started to proceed north through the intersection" in accordance with Florida law, according to Rogers. "The vehicle driven by Linda Barson was traveling west on Northlake Blvd, in the outside lane, approaching a steady red traffic signal. The traffic signal then cycled to green, at which time Barson continued westbound and entered the intersection. The front end of Barson’s vehicle collided with the right front of Williams' vehicle."

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Williams can be seen driving past a security guard from a gated community in her Toyota Sequoia SUV at about 6:15 on the video counter (not the time stamp of the security footage). At 6:20, Williams pulls up behind a white vehicle and waits for it to make its way into the intersection before she proceeds.

The Nissan Altima can then be seen crossing from left to right in front of Williams. This is how police believe Williams got caught in the intersection. At 6:44, Williams' SUV can be seen as it is struck by Linda Barson's 2016 Hyundai Accent, which is moving from right to left across the top of the video. Within seconds, the security guard leaves his guard house to call in the accident.

Rogers said that the crash remains under investigation.

Anticipating what the video might show prior to its release late Friday afternoon, Williams' attorney, Malcolm Cunningham, insisted that the footage would confirm Williams' account.

"I think it will show that Venus Williams entered the intersection on a green light and that her progress was impeded and she had the right by state law to get through the intersection," he told Patch and other news organization at the Palm Beach County Courthouse following a brief hearing related to the civil lawsuit. "She was correctly entering and exiting that intersection. That's what it's going to show."

Lawyers for Williams and the Barson family appeared in court on Friday afternoon to hammer out the process by which the two vehicles will have important information downloaded from their on-board computers. Palm Beach Gardens police successfully downloaded data from the Barson's vehicle but were unable to download data from Williams' vehicle.

"We'll extract information from Miss Williams' car and they will extract information from their client's car," explained Cunningham. "Then at that time, or within 72 hours, we'll exchange the information that we've extracted from the cars. That's going to happen by next Thursday."

The data is likely to show the speed the cars were traveling at the time of the accident and other information that may be relevant in determining fault.

Gary T. Iscoe, whose firm is representing the Barson family, insisted that Williams will be proven to be at fault for the crash that took the life of Jeremy Barson and seriously injured his wife, Linda.

"As a result of the crash, a grandfather is now gone forever from his loving family, robbed of his dream vacation with his grand kids because of the collision Miss Williams caused," said Iscoe after Friday's hearing. "We look forward to holding Miss Williams accountable for the harms caused to everybody by her decisions so a grieving family can have the closure they desperately deserve."

The five-time Wimbledon singles champion beat Japan's Naomi Osakake on Friday at the All England Club. Earlier in the week she defeated Elise Mertens of Belgium and Wang Qiang of China.

Watch surveillance video of the accident below:

Surveillance video via Associated Press courtesy of Palm Beach Gardens Police Department