Ex-NFL player rescues 80-year-old man from near-fatal beating in YMCA locker room

Former NFL wide receiver Braylon Edwards made a potential lifesaving rescue of a senior citizen who was being beaten in the locker room of a Michigan YMCA over a disagreement.

Edwards said he was in the locker room at the YMCA in Farmington Hills, Michigan, when he overheard a 25-year-old man and an 80-year-old man having an argument, which soon turned physical.

"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 Click on Detroit. "So I’m not paying attention, and I was just minding my business."

The former Cleveland Browns and New York Jets player added that once he heard a troubling sound, he decided to investigate.

"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 continued. "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."

According to reports, the 25-year-old was beating the elderly man, with law enforcement officials telling Edwards that if he hadn't stepped in, the senior most likely would have died.

"If you hadn't stepped in at that critical moment, this man he could have been killed," reporter Shawn Ley told Edwards.

"I didn’t know it was that serious, 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," Edwards explained.

The unidentified 25-year-old initially fled on foot, causing police to direct local schools to go into lockdown procedures as a precaution until the suspect was found. The suspect was apprehended and remained in custody with no further updates from local outlets.

The victim was recovering in a hospital, and Edwards said that he hoped to meet him once he was released.

"People go to work out, they have a good time, they live 80 years, and this isn't how they expect for something to maybe take their life," Edwards commented, stressing the need to protect elders. "My mom, my grandmother, my father ... in that moment when you come back home, these are the people you think about."

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