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San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith was taken into custody Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport and charged for a false report of a bomb threat. He has been released on $20,000 bail from a Los Angeles jail, according to MercuryNews.com.
LAX Police explained the details of the incident (via NFL.com):
"At approximately 1400 hrs, a 24 year-old Aldon Jacarus Ramon Smith, a resident of San Jose, California, was going through Terminal 1 screening where he made a comment indicating that he was in possession of a bomb. Los Angeles Airport Police made contact with him in the gate area where he became uncooperative. After conducting their investigation, LA Airport Police took suspect into custody and transported him to LAPD-Pacific division where he was booked for California Penal Code 148.1(a) - False report of a bomb threat."
LAX Police Sgt. Karla Ortiz told CSNBayArea.com's Matt Maiocco that Smith "was not what we considered to be intoxicated, but he appeared as if he had been drinking earlier in the day.”
Smith was arrested in Sept. 2013 on suspicion of DUI charges and several days later, he checked himself into rehabilitation facility.
In a statement released shortly after Smith was detained, 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said, "We are disappointed to learn of the incident today involving Aldon Smith" but added that they would have "no further comment" because this is "a pending legal matter and we are still gathering the pertinent facts."
And an eyewitness account of what happened, via the Sacramento Bee:
The incident began at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter at which point Smith was told he would not be allowed on the plane. After going through security, the witness said Smith was in line at McDonald's when he was approached by security personnel. He became belligerent, said something about a bomb and was taken into custody.
Witness John Egan told MercuryNew.com that, "I heard him say, 'I did nothing wrong.' The whole thing ratcheted up from there. The cops were trying to calm him down. He wasn't out of control, just agitated."
At last month's NFL owners meetings, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said of Smith's return to the lineup late last season after a stint in rehab: "I thought he did a good job in all those regards, as a player, as a teammate, decisions he was making."
And 49ers CEO Jed York said from the owners meetings that while the team had remained in contact with Smith, they had also given him room, as required by the collective bargaining agreement.
"A lot of people are working with him, but you don't want to set up anything that's uncomfortable and anything that's beyond what the CBA rules are," York said. "You can only do so much. Somebody has to work for himself if they're going to get through these issues."
