Former NFL player Braylon Edwards helped stop locker room attack on 80-year-old man
Former University of Michigan and NFL wide receiver Braylon Edwards came to the aid of an man who was being physically assaulted in a Farmington Hills, Mich., YMCA on Friday.
According to prosecutors, an exchange of words between 20-year-old Malik Ali Smith and an 80-year-old man escalated into a physical fight that left the man in serious, but stable condition at a local hospital.
Smith, who was given $250,000 cash bond and is being held at Oakland County Jail, was captured after fleeing the gym and was arraigned and given a charge of assault with intent to murder. The maximum sentence is life in prison.
Police were able to identify Smith through the gym's membership records.
Edwards spoke to WDIV about the incident and said that he heard the argument when he first walked into the locker room. After the dispute grew louder, he heard what sounded like pushing and shoving and realized something physical was going on. That's when he got involved and pulled Smith away from the victim.
“The noise escalates, and then you can hear some pushing and shoving, so you know what fighting sounds like, but once I hear a thud, that’s when I got up and turned around,” Edwards said. “And then I see the guy for what I was thinking was reaching for a phone underneath the victim grabs the back of the victim’s head by the hair, and he was about to slam it down on the counter."
The victim was found unconscious with severe facial injuries when police arrived on the scene.
“I didn’t know it was that serious,” Edwards said. “I mean, the victim probably had a serious concussion by nature, but it wasn’t until I talked to the detective down in Farmington who told me that if I didn’t step in — but at the end of the day, that’s what you do.”
Edwards was not mentioned by name in a statement from Farmington Hills Police Chief Jeff King, who only said a "good Samaritan” helped stopped the “vicious assault.”
“This was a vicious, senseless attack,” Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said Monday. “I commend the witness who intervened, and we will seek justice for this victim.”
Edwards played four years at Michigan and was a first-round draft pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2005. He spent eight seasons in the NFL with four different teams.
