LAX Police makes statement insinuating that Aldon Smith may have been drinking earlier in the day

Fooch's Update #2: Eric Branch's article says Ortiz said eyewitnesses said it appeared Aldon Smith was drinking earlier. According to this article, Ortiz did not say police thought he appeared to have been drinking.

Fooch's Update: As some have pointed out, the statement by LAX Police spokesperson Karla Ortiz is very subjective in nature. I came across this tweet from a San Francisco Chronicle writer that does not have a source other than "LAX police", so I'm not sure if it's entirely different from Ortiz's statement:

Unclear if #aldonsmith had been drinking, but not relevant or related to his arrest, according to LAX police.

— Jill Tucker (@jilltucker) April 14, 2014

@NinersNation Yes. She clarified to me that others said it appeared he might have been drinking. She said it wasn't relevant to the arrest.

— Jill Tucker (@jilltucker) April 14, 2014

I figure it is unfair to Aldon Smith at this point to include the inference without the acknowledgement of it subjectivity. My bad on that.
_______

The Aldon Smith situation continues to evolve, and we're hearing some more details. CSN Bay Area spoke with an LAX Police spokesperson, Sgt. Karla Ortiz, and we're hearing some information that might add a little more context to the situation:

"He was not what we considered to be intoxicated," LAX Police Sgt. Karla Ortiz told CSNBayArea.com, "but he appeared as if he had been drinking earlier in the day."

Sgt. Ortiz said Smith would not be administered a blood-alcohol test because, she said, "Whether he was drunk or not was not the reason for his detention, arrest or booking."

Aldon Smith was not arrested for being drunk or otherwise intoxicated, but there is some concern that he was drinking prior to this. My biggest concern when this report came out was that Smith had been drinking, and it led to him doing something stupid.

Even if he was not drunk at the time of his arrest, him drinking does not exactly bode well for his attempts to clean his life up. He checked into rehab following his DUI last fall, and it seemed like he was looking better and making a concerted effort. Unfortunately, with matters of addiction, it is a life-long battle. Over at BayAreaSportsGuy.com, Ruthless Sports Guy had a great article last September about addiction. I highly recommend giving it a read.

We don't know what the next step is in this whole process. Smith has his legal matters to attend to, and those are very serious. But if he fell off the wagon, that's a bigger concern in my mind. He can get through the legal troubles, but if the alcohol issues continue to affect his life, he could very well face future problems.