Former NFL quarterback and Fox Sports analyst Mark Sanchez has been released from the hospital and was briefly booked into jail Sunday after he was charged with felony battery.
Indianapolis police released his mug shot Sunday morning. The police department noted that it would normally wait until Monday but decided to release the photo early “because of the high level of public interest.”
Last weekend in Indianapolis, Sanchez was stabbed after, authorities alleged, he attacked a truck driver while intoxicated, according to an affidavit.
Sanchez, 38, who received multiple stab wounds, was arrested at the hospital and initially charged with a series of misdemeanors. Now, he faces a felony charge of battery involving serious bodily injury, punishable by up to six years in prison.
“I want to be clear about this: I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you do for a living, I don’t care where you live,” Indianapolis Police Chief Chris Bailey told reporters last week. “If you come into our city [and] commit violence, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold you accountable.”
As he left the Marion County Jail, Sanchez told a reporter that he wanted to thank the first responders as well as his surgeon, who he said “saved my life.”
“I’m just focused on my recovery,” Sanchez said, walking with his right arm held in a sling.
Sanchez was in town for the NFL game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium last Sunday when he approached the driver, Perry Tole, who was making a delivery at a nearby Westin Hotel loading dock, according to a court affidavit.
Sanchez is alleged to have told Tole that he and his truck could not be at that loading dock. Security video then showed Sanchez running after Tole, who had darted for his truck door, and “grabbing and throwing [Tole] towards the wall of the Westin,” the affidavit said.
The driver then tried to pepper-spray Sanchez, and when Sanchez still “came at him,” Tole pulled out his knife and stabbed him, believing he was in a “life or death situation,” according to the affidavit.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears had said Tole, 69, sustained “significant and very severe injuries.”
Aside from the felony charge, Sanchez is charged with three misdemeanor counts: battery with injury, public intoxication and unlawful entrance of a vehicle.
Tole also sued Sanchez and Fox Corp. on Monday, alleging he was the victim of the assault and repeating the prosecutors’ allegations. The lawsuit didn’t specify a dollar amount for damages.
Sanchez had a decadelong career in the NFL, playing for the New York Jets, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys, the Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears before he retired in 2019.
He then worked as a commentator for ESPN and later joined Fox Sports in 2021 as a game analyst.
