This past Friday, pro football player Aldon Smith, linebacker for the 49ers, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and DUI (driving under the influence). Despite the arrest, the 49ers allowed Smith to play in Sundays game against the Indianapolis Colts. When the game ended, Smith returned to the locker room to discover his locker was empty. Decisions had been made by 49ers’ CEO, Jed York, to punish the 23-year-old by immediate suspension from the team “indefinitely.”
Smith was arrested Friday morning at 7am in the morning by San Jose police. Allegedly a witness saw Smith crashed his Bentley into a tree and called 911 to report the accident. No one was hurt during the collision and Aldon walked away uninjured. However, police suspected Smith of drunk driving. Smith failed the DUI field tests and the breathalyzer test revealed BAC level of .15, almost twice the legal limit of .08. Aldon Smith was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and DUI. Smith was booked into county jail and bailed out later that day.
This is Aldon’s second DUI arrest, his first DUI charge occurred in Miami in January of 2012.
Aldon released statements after Sunday’s game addressing his DUI and possession of marijuana arrest saying “First off, I wanted to apologize to the team, the organization, my family and everybody I let down. I also wanted to let it be known that this is a problem and it’s something that I will get fixed, and that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that this never happens again.”
Rumor has it Aldon Smith has already sought out an alcohol treatment program to get help. Jed York stood by Aldon stating, “Again, I’ll support our players as long as they’re willing to work toward getting better and being better teammates, better members of the community. I believe that Aldon wants to do that, and I will support him and I will stand by him as long as that’s what he’s willing to do.”
Smith will need an experienced DUI and criminal defense lawyer to navigate through these new DUI and possession of marijuana charges. If found guilty of the DUI, Aldon Smith may suffer an even longer football suspension enforced by commissioner Roger Goodell, who considers a DUI a high level concern.
Written by S.O