INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former NFL quarterback and sports analyst Mark Sanchez was released from custody Sunday, about a week after police said he was stabbed during a fight with a truck driver outside an Indiana hotel.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed Sanchez’s release. He faces a felony battery charge, along with several misdemeanor charges, for what prosecutors have said was a fight over parking.
A police affidavit states that Sanchez, 38, who reportedly smelled of alcohol, confronted 69-year-old Perry Tole after Tole had backed his truck into a hotel’s loading dock on Oct. 4. Tole claims in a lawsuit that Sanchez entered the truck without permission and then physically blocked and shoved him, prompting Tole to use pepper spray in self-defense.
Upon being sprayed, Sanchez allegedly advanced towards Tole, who then pulled a knife for self-defense. Sanchez was hospitalized with stab wounds to his upper right torso, while Tole was pictured in a neck brace on a hospital bed with a deep slash to his face.
Both individuals have different accounts of the incident, with Sanchez representing an ongoing analysis of the events leading to the charges against him. The former quarterback, who was in Indianapolis for Fox’s coverage of a game between the Colts and the Las Vegas Raiders, had a ten-year NFL career before retiring in 2019 and transitioned into sports analysis, joining Fox Sports as a game analyst in 2021.
A defense attorney for Sanchez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
