San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith has taken a leave of absence from the team, according to 49ers CEO Jed York.
The football player is scheduled to get treatment after being arrested Friday for suspicion of driving under the influence. After the incident, Smith apologized and acknowledged that he needs help.
“First off, I wanted to apologize to the team, the organization, my family and everybody I let down,” he said. “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.”
“I also wanted to let everybody know that once again I’m sorry.”
The linebacker was arrested early Friday morning after his truck hit a tree. Two days after being jailed, Smith played for San Francisco and had five tackles in a 27-7 loss against the Colts. York talked about the team’s decision to play Smith.
“Our opinion is if you’re sitting someone down and paying them to sit down when they’re going to seek treatment in the future, we didn’t feel like that was an appropriate punishment,” York said. “We’re not trying to circumvent what the NFL will do. This is about making sure that Aldon has the opportunity to work on something, to get better, and he knows that he has our support and hopefully he has everybody’s support in something that is going to be very difficult.”
When asked how long Smith would be out, York said, “It will be indefinite. There’s no timetable.”
