Former Jets player Braylon Edwards is being hailed as a hero for stepping in and ending an assault on an elderly man in the locker room of a Michigan YMCA on Friday.
Edwards was in the locker room of the YMCA in Farmington Hills, a suburb of Detroit when a 25-year-old man started beating an 80-year-old man, the New York Post reported.
The former NFL player said the argument was over music playing too loudly.
“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 WDIV-TV.
“The noise escalates, and then you can hear some pushing and shoving, and you know what fighting sounds like. Start to hear some tussling, start to hear some fists, but once I hear a thud, that’s when I got up and turned around,” Edwards continued.
“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,” he said.
Edwards quickly stepped in and stopped the assault. And he says officers told him he may have saved the older man’s life.
“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 Detective Jacobs 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.”
Wide Receiver Braylon Edwards #17 of the New York Jets makes a catch and battles Linebacker Nick Barnett #50 of the Buffalo Bills when the Buffalo Bills host the New York Jets at Ralph Wilson Stadium on December 30, 2012 in Orchard Park, New York. (Al Pereira/New York Jets/Getty Images)
The attacker quickly left the facility, but police tracked him down and arrested him later. The victim was sent to a local hospital. “People go to work out, they have a good time, they live to be 80 years, and this isn’t how they expect for something to maybe take their life,” Edwards exclaimed. “My mom, my grandmother, my father – in that moment, when you come back home, these are the people you think about.”
Edwards had 238 catches for 1,570 yards and 11 touchdowns in 31 games during his three seasons with the Jets. He was first selected by the Cleveland Browns in the 2005 NFL Draft, with which he played for five seasons. He also played for the 49ers and the Seahawks. He retired from the league in 2012.
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