SANTA CLARA – Aldon Smith, the 49ers' first-round draft pick and a candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Miami Beach early Saturday morning.
According to a Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitations spokeswoman, Smith was arrested at 4:33 a.m. and was booked into the county jail at 9:18 a.m. He posted a $1,000 cash bond and was released at 12:42 p.m.
A Miami Beach police spokesman was not able to provide any information about the arrest.
Smith, 22, led all rookies during the regular season with 14 sacks, and he added two more in the playoffs. He set a rookie franchise record for sacks in a season and came within a half-sack of Jevon Kearse's NFL record for rookies that was set in 1999.
The No. 7 overall pick in the draft twice was the league's defensive rookie of the month this past season, and he is a candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year, an award that will be announced next Saturday. Smith is from Missouri and played at the University of Missouri.
The 49ers issued a statement Saturday: "We take these issues very seriously, but will reserve further comment at this time, as this is an ongoing legal matter. The 49ers will continue to gather the facts and monitor the developments closely."
Another 49ers defender, defensive end Ray McDonald, was arrested on a DUI charge last year after being clocked driving 94 mph on Interstate 280.
In 2005, coach Jim Harbaugh was arrested on DUI charges in Encinitas while he was the head coach at the University of San Diego. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving and was given three years' probation and fined $1,300.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.