Will Smith may seem like a pretty straight-edged guy. He’s married with children, working hard, and having plenty of success. However, he wasn’t always Mr. Perfect. In fact, he was involved in a brutal attack in his hometown of Philadelphia that left one man nearly blind back in 1989 and now, nearly twenty-five years later, new details are being revealed.
According to police, Will (aka Fresh Prince at the time) got into a verbal dispute with record promoter William Hendricks which led to Will allegedly requesting that his bodyguard, Charles “Charlie Mack” Alston take care of him, so to speak. Well, he did just that, and Hendricks was left with a fracture of his left eye orbit. He was hospitalized and received six stitches.
Will, who had won his first Grammy Award just days prior, was later arrested and charged with aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, and criminal conspiracy. Fortunately for Will, the charges were later dropped.
“Will had to spend a night in the cell at the West Philadelphia police station with other inmates waking him up all night long and asking for his autograph,” an insider tells the National Enquirer regarding Will’s prison stay. “It was the worst night of his life. He wants to forget it ever happened.”
In a 2005 interview, Will opened up about the assault saying, “It wasn’t my fault. That’s what they all say! But it wasn’t my fault. This is back in Philly. One of my buddies beat up this dude, and I was there. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
Perhaps this little incident helped inspire the DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince single from the same year titled, “I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson:”
