Malik Ali Smith has been charged with assault with intent to murder after attacking a fellow patron in a Farmington Hills, Mich., YMCA locker room.
Malik Ali Smith has been charged with assault with intent to murder after attacking a fellow patron in a Farmington Hills, Mich., YMCA locker room.
Smith allegedly attacked an elderly man after the two got into a disagreement over the volume of the music. Smith pushed the elderly man, who ultimately fell on the floor, a good Samaritan stepped in before Smith could do any more damage. Smith fled the YMCA afterward. He was later caught.
That good Samaritan was none other than Braylon Edwards, former Cleveland Browns wide receiver and Michigan Wolverine’s alum.
"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,” said Edwards.
Medical staff at the hospital reported that the elderly man was in critical condition. They said that if Edwards had not stepped in, he may have died from the attack.
“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 said.
Smith has been held on a $250,000 bond since March. He now faces life in prison if convicted of his crimes.Â
"This was a vicious, senseless attack," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald told Fox 2 Detroit. "I commend the witness who intervened, and we will seek justice for this victim."
