A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Seattle Seahawks defensive end Aldon Smith for an alleged second-degree battery that occurred in the New Orleans area on the evening of April 17, St. Bernard Parish District Attorney Perry Nicosia confirmed.
Nicosia said that Smith allegedly choked a victim unconscious during a confrontation that began inside a coffee house in Chalmette, Louisiana, and the warrant was signed by the court a day later.
New Orleans television station WDSU was the first to report that Smith was wanted for the incident, adding that some of the incident was believed to be captured on video. Nicosia said he was not sure how much of the incident was captured on video.
According to a wanted bulletin from the St. Bernard Parish Sherriff that was shared by WDSU, Smith does not have a local address but has relatives in the New Orleans area. Smith, 31, signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks just two days earlier, on April 15, after resurrecting his career with the Dallas Cowboys in 2020.
Before that, Smith missed more than four seasons because of an indefinite suspension by the NFL for multiple off-field incidents and violations of the league’s substance abuse policy.
Smith quickly rose to stardom with a record 33.5 sacks in his first two NFL seasons with the San Francisco 49ers after being drafted with the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft, with that total rising to a record 42 after three seasons. However, Smith got sidetracked off the field.
In 2013, Smith was arrested on suspicion of DUI after crashing his truck into a tree in a residential neighborhood in San Jose, California. In 2014, the NFL suspended him for nine games for violating the league’s personal conduct and substance abuse policies.
In August 2015, Smith was released by the Niners the day after he was arrested on hit-and-run, DUI and vandalism charges. He signed with the Raiders a month later but was suspended for a year for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Smith was released by the Raiders in 2018 after he was arrested on multiple charges, including domestic violence, assault and false imprisonment. Smith pleaded no contest to a pair of misdemeanor charges in November 2018 to settle his domestic violence case from earlier that year.
He was reinstated last year and started all 16 games for the Cowboys with five sacks after signing a one-year, $4 million contract.
