INDIANAPOLIS — Former NFL quarterback and on-air analyst Mark Sanchez was stabbed several times in an altercation over the weekend, but he is the one facing charges.
Update 11:40 a.m. ET, Oct. 6: Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced that Sanches will now face a felony charge of battery involving serious bodily injury, CNN reported. It carries a maximum sentence of between one and six years in prison.
“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 just incredibly significant injuries,” Mears said in a news conference on Monday morning, according to the IndyStar.
Original report: Police said a security camera video from a hotel in Indianapolis showed Sanchez accosting a driver of a box truck that was backed into the hotel’s loading dock. The truck’s driver and Sanchez were recorded arguing and the driver of the truck pulled out a knife in defense, The Associated Press reported.
The incident happened in an alley between two hotels just before 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, People magazine reported.
The video showed Sanchez run to the truck, which was there as part of the driver’s job to collect used fryer oil, and talk to the driver. Sanchez told the driver that he couldn’t be at the loading dock and that Sanchez spoke to the hotel’s manager. The driver told police that Sanchez smelled of alcohol and was slurring, the AP reported.
Sanchez then followed the driver, whom he later threw toward the hotel’s wall before throwing him to the ground.
The former New York Jets quarterback then climbed into the truck but got out when the driver said he couldn’t be in it. He again told the driver that he spoke to the hotel’s manager that he didn’t want the fryer oil replaced. Sanchez then tried to get into the truck again and prevented the driver from calling his manager.
That’s when the driver thought he was in danger and sprayed Sanchez with pepper spray, which he kept in his pocket. After wiping his face, Sanchez went toward the driver, who then pulled a knife and stabbed him.
Sanchez told police all he remembered was grabbing for a window. He didn’t know who else was part of the fight or where it happened, the Indy Star reported.
He had several stab wounds to his upper right torso and was hospitalized, while the driver had a cut to his left cheek.
Initially, Sanchez was admitted in critical condition, but was upgraded to stable, according to the Indy Star.
WXIN said the driver’s stab wound went through his cheek and hit his tongue.
Curt Menefee said on the Fox Sports pregame show on Sunday, “Friday night in Indianapolis, one of our team members, Mark Sanchez, was involved in an incident that, to be honest, we are still trying to wrap our heads around. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with Mark and his family and all of those involved.”
Brady Quinn stepped in as Sanchez’s replacement.
Sanchez was charged with misdemeanors: battery resulting in injury, unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication, the AP reported.
He was in Indianapolis to cover the Las Vegas Raiders and the Indianapolis Colts game.
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