Bark's Bites: How Did a Fender Bender Turn Into Murder in New Orleans?

It’s an all-too-familiar tale in the Crescent City of New Orleans, a city that has held the dubious title of “Most Dangerous City in America” on multiple occasions. 164 murders occurred in the city limits in 2015, the fourth highest murder rate per capita of any American city and the 32nd most of any city in the world, so it’s not unusual to hear of a shooting that occurred inside the Lower Garden District on Saturday night.

It’s a bit more unusual to hear that it might have been motivated by road rage, although we have certainly heard of that story before.

Yet, when a shooting involves one of the most beloved people in the history of the city, and when it begins to seem like there’s more to the story than just a traffic accident gone wrong, I begin to wonder how Will Smith ended up dead, slumped over the wheel of his vehicle, while his killer stood by calmly and waited to be arrested for murdering a local legend.

Before we start, let me say that I once ran in the same circles as Smith, the former Ohio State and New Orleans Saints football player who was gunned down behind the wheel of his G63 AMG SUV in New Orleans over the weekend.

He was arriving at Ohio State as I was exiting, and I was friends and former teammates with a lot of the Buckeyes at that time. He was also a customer of mine when I was a sales manager with T-Mobile in 2004. He was a newly drafted and signed member of the Saints, and he was proud to have a bright red Range Rover with huge, chrome rims, which he always parked right in front of the door to my store. He was the personification of the phrase “gentle giant,” never raising his voice above a whisper or asking to be treated any differently from any other customer.

Over the next several seasons, Smith became one of New Orleans’ favorite sons. No, Smith wasn’t born in New Orleans, but he was drafted by the Saints at a time when being a Saints fan meant that you likely wore a paper bag over your head to the game. He was one of the few team members who stuck with the team through the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, and he was a Pro Bowler in the first season after the Superdome reopened following the hurricane. He led the team in sacks during their miracle Super Bowl run. He played every down of his career for the Saints, a career that was cut short by a ligament tear in his knee. In short, New Orleans loved Smith, and Smith loved them right back.

When the story first broke, I wondered if perhaps Smith had exited his vehicle and threatened some poor man who just happened to bump into him. After all, the sight of a man Smith’s size, every bit of 6’3″ and 282 pounds, enraged because of some damage to his six-figure SUV, might inspire anybody to feel threatened enough to defend himself. After all, Smith was one of the players suspended by the NFL for his role in Bountygate, so perhaps he wasn’t as nice a guy as I thought he was. What is the body of a former NFL Pro Bowl defensive player if not a “deadly weapon”? If a man that size came at me, I’d be hoping and praying that I had a gun in the glove compartment.

Except it doesn’t seem like that’s what happened at all. As the facts come out about the killing, it turns out that the man who shot Smith, Cardell Hayes, is the son of a man who was killed by NOPD police in 2005 as he allegedly threatened officers with a knife. Hayes sued the department, settling out of court five years ago. On Saturday night, Smith and his wife were having dinner with one of the officers named in the lawsuit, William Ceravolo.

Although the NOPD states that Hayes and Smith did not know each other, Hayes had worked security for the Saints while Smith was a member of the team. In his mugshot, Hayes appears to be even larger than Smith, measuring at 6’6″ and looking just as broad. This isn’t his first brush with the law, either. Hayes was arrested in 2014 and charged with possession of an illegal weapon and drug paraphernalia.

In the official police statement, it’s said that Smith’s G63 was struck so hard by Hayes’ Hummer H2 that Smith’s SUV was knocked into the Impala in front of him at the intersection. The Lower Garden District of New Orleans is a residential area — why was Hayes traveling so quickly? Is it possible that he was in a mentally unstable state? Could he have been angered at the fact that Smith — a man he once protected, perhaps even admired — was dining with one of the men accused of murdering his father? Was he following him home on purpose? Did Hayes intend to instigate an incident, perhaps even intending to kill Smith?

Then, after killing Smith in cold blood, why did he just wait for the police to arrive? Why did he shoot Smith’s wife in the leg, and then just stand there and watch her suffer on the ground?

Although Hayes’ lawyer has come forth with a statement in which he says his client was “not the aggressor in this incident,” it’s hard to see how he could have been anything but. He struck Smith’s vehicle. Smith was still in his vehicle, his door only partly open, when he was shot multiple times by Hayes in the back and torso. The New Orleans Police Department stated that they will use every means available to them to prosecute Hayes and bring him to justice. As it currently stands, Hayes has been charged with second-degree murder and is being held on a $1 million bond, having killed a man who was synonymous with the city he represented on the football field.

It’s easy to say that tougher gun laws are needed — except that it’s already illegal to conceal carry a handgun almost anywhere in the city of New Orleans. Also, considering Hayes’ record, it’s at least likely that the gun he used to kill Smith was neither legally obtained nor legally carried. The NOPD arrived within four minutes of being alerted of the incident — not bad, but certainly not fast enough to have saved Smith’s life.

And in a city that literally has a murder every other day, one wonders how anybody can feel safe. I’ve spent my share of time in NOLA, on Frenchmen Street, in the French Quarter, on the stages of the Jazz and Heritage Festival. It’s a beautiful city with a rich heritage of music and culture, but it’s also a dangerous place to be anybody, much less a wealthy man with a target on his back.

As more details emerge about this case in the coming days, I feel certain about one thing: this was not just a traffic incident gone wrong. Although Occam’s Razor easily shreds other, more sinister theories at this time, there are too many connections, too many coincidences for Smith to have ended up dead without some malicious intent on Hayes’ part. Regardless of why this fender bender resulted in the death of a man, a husband, and a father, it’s all incredibly tragic.

And it all makes me wonder: What would I have done in Smith’s situation? What would any of us do if confronted by a huge, boiling mad man with a gun? What could have been done to prevent any of this from happening in the first place?

Regardless, I can tell you this: we can never get to a place in society where we are afraid to act like men. We can’t tolerate those who would bully us on our streets, whether by reckless, inconsiderate behavior or with purposefully evil intentions. Though I’ve managed to avoid making too many gratuitous enemies in my day, I can’t help but think that if a Road Rager ever comes at my family and me, I can assure you that I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.

Maybe it’s time to go get that concealed carry permit.