Michigan Wolverine’s legend Braylon Edwards is being called a hero after he rescued an 80-year-old man who was being attacked by a 25-year-old man in a Detroit YMCA locker room.
Edwards, who went on to play in the NFL, said he heard some people arguing and at first said he didn’t think anything of it but when he heard a large thud he decided to jump in, WDIV Local 4 Detroit reported.
“I walk into the locker room after work, and basically, I hear about four rows behind me arguing about music and how it was being played too loud,” Edwards told the outlet. “So I’m not paying attention, and I was just minding my business.”
“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,” he added.
“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,” Edwards continued, noting that officers told him if he hadn’t have stepped in the older man’s injuries would’ve been more serious. “But at the end of the day that’s what you do.”
Farmington Hills Police chief Jeff King did not hold back his thoughts and said if it wasn’t for Edwards “intervention, we could very easily be talking about someone’s death.”
“He absolutely saved that man’s life,” King told The Associated Press. “I’ve been a police officer going on 29 years. When these assaults are ongoing, really bad things can happen.”
The 25-year-old suspect initially took off on foot before he was arrested and taken into custody, WDIV noted.
He has since been charged with attempted murder. Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald called the attack “vicious” and “senseless.”
She also commended the witness, without naming Edwards, for intervening and said “we will seek justice for this victim.”
As far as the elderly man, he was transported to the hospital and remains in critical but stable condition, ESPN noted.
Edwards was a star receiver during his time with the Wolverines. In 2005, he entered the NFL draft where he was picked up by the Cleveland Browns. He remained with them for the next five seasons before he was traded to the New York Jets in 2009. The Wolverine stand-out also played in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks.