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 Saturday evening, 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 shop in Chalmette, Louisiana, and that the warrant was signed by the court a day later.
The alleged incident rises to a second-degree battery because the victim was rendered unconscious, according to Nicosia. He said the victim was taken to a hospital but did not have to stay overnight.
In a news release, the St. Bernard Parish District Attorney's office said that the alleged victim suffered "severe injuries" and that an offender convicted of second-degree battery faces a fine of up to $2,000 and/or up to eight years in prison.
According to a news release from the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to a call for medical assistance, and when they arrived, they came into contact with a male victim who said he had been assaulted by an acquaintance of his. Detectives with the Criminal Investigations Bureau identified the suspect as Smith.
New Orleans television station WDSU was first to report that Smith was wanted for the incident, adding that some of the incident was believed to have been captured on video. Nicosia said he was not sure how much was captured on video.
According to a wanted bulletin from the St. Bernard Parish sheriff 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, $1,127,500 deal ($137,500 guaranteed) with the Seahawks just two days earlier, on April 15, after resurrecting his career with the Dallas Cowboys in 2020.
"We are aware of the reports regarding Aldon Smith. Aldon notified us and we are gathering more information. We have no further comment at this time," the Seahawks said in a statement.
Smith's agent could not be reached by phone.
Before his return to the field last season, 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 rose to stardom with a record 33.5 sacks in his first two NFL seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, with that total rising to a record 42 after three seasons. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft.
But Smith got sidetracked off the field.
In 2013, he 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 after signing a one-year, $4 million contract. He had five sacks.
Last offseason, cornerback Quinton Dunbar was accused of armed robbery two months after the Seahawks acquired him in a trade. The NFL placed him on the commissioner's exempt list, then removed him from the list after Broward (Florida) prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Dunbar because of insufficient evidence.
ESPN's Brady Henderson contributed to this report.