Here we go again...
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Aldon Smith reportedly detained by police at LAX
Posted by Josh Alper on April 13, 2014
AP
A police report from Miami landed 49ers quarterback
Colin Kaepernick in the news last week and now reports from Los Angeles International Airport are ending the week with another player in the news.
A witness named John Egan told Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group that linebacker
Aldon Smith was waiting for a Southwest flight when he was approached by several police officers who led him away from the gate. TMZ has a picture of the reported incident that
shows police handcuffing the man identified as Smith.
“I heard him say, ‘I
did nothing wrong,’” Egan said. “The whole thing ratcheted up from there. The cops were trying to calm him down. He wasn’t out of control; just agitated.”
Matt Barrows of the
Sacramento Bee reports that Smith “
became belligerent in a security line and said something about having a bomb.”
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed an arrest was made but said they would not identify him until he was booked. We’ll follow up with more one way or another once they do.
Witnesses: Aldon Smith taken into custody at LAX
Police at Los Angeles International Airport say they took a 25-year-old San Jose man into custody today after he became belligerent after going through security and saying something about having a bomb. Witnesses, some of whom have video of the incident, said the suspect is 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith. Smith is 24 and turns 25 in September.
LAX authorities said the suspect is in the process of being booked with the Los Angeles Police Department and that his identity won't be released until that is complete. A statement from the airport police reads:
"At approximately 1400 hrs, a 25-year-old male resident of San Jose, California, was going through Terminal 1 screening and was randomly selected for a secondary screening. The suspect then became belligerent and uncooperative with the process and with the TSA agent, making a comment indicating that he was in possession of a bomb before proceeding towards the gate area. Los Angeles Airport Police made contact with him at the gate and he was positively identified as the person in question. Once again the male subject became uncooperative and he was detained and taken into custody by Airport Police and is currently being transported to LAPD for booking."
According to a witness, 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 ran toward the gate, became belligerent, said something about a bomb and was taken into custody by five officers.
Smith has been arrested twice since 2012 for DUI and also is facing weapons charges relating to a sprawling house party that got out of control in 2012. Smith was stabbed at that party. In addition, he was involved in a rollover car crash near his home in San Jose in 2012.
Following his most recent DUI arrest in September, in which Smith was found passed out in a truck that came to a stop in a residential front yard, Smith checked himself into a rehabilitation program and missed six weeks of the season.
Asked last month how Smith was doiing, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said the progress was good and that he was encouraged by how Smith handles himself after returning from rehabilitation. "Thought he did a good job in all of those regards, as a player, as a teammate, decisions he was making," Harbaugh said. "Very encouraged."
-- Matt Barrows
