Former NFL quarterback and Fox Sports analyst Mark Sanchez was charged with felony battery after a weekend altercation in Indianapolis, where he was stabbed after he attacked a truck driver, authorities alleged Monday.
Sanchez, a onetime star for the New York Jets, was initially charged with a string of misdemeanors before Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced that he would face a felony charge of battery involving serious bodily injury.
Indianapolis Police Chief Chris Bailey told reporters: "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. If you come into our city [and) commit violence, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold you accountable."
The felony is punishable by up to six years in prison, officials said.
Sanchez also faces three misdemeanor counts: battery with injury, public intoxication and unlawful entrance of a vehicle.
Mears said the victim's age, 69, could be considered an aggravating factor and might lead to a tougher punishment if Sanchez is convicted. He previously noted that the victim sustained "significant and very severe injuries as a result" of the altercation.
As of Monday morning, prosecutors said, Sanchez was still in the hospital. Sanchez’s defense attorney declined to comment Monday, shortly after the new charge was disclosed.
Sanchez, 38, is alleged to have assaulted a truck driver while he was intoxicated before the victim stabbed him multiple times in what he described as self-defense, according to a court affidavit.
Sanchez was in town for the Las Vegas Raiders-Colts game Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium when he approached the driver at a nearby Westin Hotel loading dock, according to a court affidavit.
A truck driver, identified in court documents only as P.T., was working for a company that recycles used cooking oil, the affidavit says.
Sanchez told the driver that he and his truck couldn't be at that loading dock, and "video shows Mr. Sanchez grabbing and throwing P.T. towards the wall of the Westin,” the court document says.
"P.T. realized things had escalated, and he was now in physical danger, so he reached into his pocket and grabbed his pepper spray and sprayed Mr. Sanchez in the face," it adds.
The pepper spray appeared to affect Sanchez briefly, but he wiped his face and advanced toward the victim again, officials alleged. P.T. told police he feared the man was "trying to kill" him, according to the affidavit.
"We are literally talking about people fighting over a parking space and or a dispute about where people are parking, and it resulted in someone receiving just, just incredibly significant injuries," Mears said Monday.
Perry Tole sued Sanchez and Fox Corp. on Monday, alleging he was the victim of the assault. The suit repeats the prosecutors' allegations.
The lawsuit says that Sanchez told Tole that he "could not be at the location and that Defendant, Sanchez had spoken to the hotel manager" before he entered his truck. Tole used pepper spray against him in self-defense, the lawsuit says.
"Sanchez continued to advance against Tole and there was a physical confrontation in which Tole suffered significant injuries to his head, jaw and neck,” the suit says. Police then arrived.
The lawsuit does not name a dollar amount.
Fox Corp. did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit Monday.
Sanchez's legal team waived his right to an initial hearing Tuesday. His next court date was set for Nov. 4.
"I’m not going to say anything at this time, thank you," Sanchez’s wife, “Chad Powers” actor Perry Mattfield, said before she hung up the phone Monday.
Bailey, the police chief, said Monday that he is grateful the injuries suffered by both men weren't worse.
"We're lucky that no one's dead right now as a result of this incident that involved a knife," Bailey said.
Sanchez, a University of Southern California alum and native of nearby Orange County, California, played eight seasons in his NFL career, which spanned 10 years, from 2009 to 2018.
After having appeared in consecutive AFC title games in 2010 and 2011, Sanchez’s Jets were in decline by Thanksgiving night 2012, culminating in a loss at home to the New England Patriots, best known for the infamous “butt fumble.”
Sanchez collided with the backside of teammate Brandon Moore, causing a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
