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Mark Sanchez stabbing: Former NFL QB breaks silence on violent Indianapolis incident
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

FOX Sports analyst Mark Sanchez was released from an Indianapolis hospital Sunday and subsequently booked into the Marion County (Ind.) jail on a felony battery charge stemming from a violent altercation with a delivery driver in the early morning hours of Oct. 4. Sanchez was stabbed multiple times after the former NFL and USC quarterback allegedly assaulted the 69-year-old Peter Tole in an alley outside the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis.

Sanchez spoke publicly for the first time since the altercation, providing a brief statement to FOX 59 reporter Russ McQuaid upon entering the Marion County jail wearing a sling around his right arm. Sanchez is facing one Level 5 felony battery charge that carries a potenial sentence of 1-6 years in jail, as well as three misdemeanors for battery with injury, unlawful entry into a motor vehicle and public intoxication for an assault that left Tole beaten and with a large gash across his left cheek.

“Right now I am just kind of focused on my recovery and I just want to thank the first responders, Eskenazi Hospital, Marion County Sheriff, and the Indianapolis Police Department, Metro PD,” Sanchez said, according to FOX 59’s Angela Ganote. “But I’m focused on my recovery, and I just want to see my wife, I want to see my son, my two baby girls. (There will) be a day to answer all these questions, and unfortunately today is not that day.”

When asked if he had any words for his victim, Peter Tole, Sanchez deflected and instead thanked his surgeon: “I guess the real thing here is I just want to thank Dr. (Lindsey) Mossler, the surgeon, she saved my life. So I’m grateful for that.”

New footage emerges of Mark Sanchez’s actions prior to stabbing incident

In new surveillance video released Friday by TMZ, FOX Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez can be seen stumbling around downtown Indianapolis. It came just minutes before initiating what became a violent confrontation with a delivery driver outside the Westin Hotel in the early morning hours of Oct. 4.

Sanchez, a former NFL quarterback who played college ball at USC, was in Indianapolis ahead of last Sunday’s NFL game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Indianapolis Colts. He was scheduled to call the game for the network but was later replaced in the FOX booth by Brady Quinn.

TMZ Sports revealed it obtained multiple surveillance videos that tracked Sanchez through the downtown streets of Indianapolis between 12:05 a.m. ET — when the delivery driver and assault victim, Peter Tole, first pulled into the Westin Hotel loading dock with his service truck — and at 12:30 a.m. That is when Sanchez fled the scene “bloodied from stab wounds,” per TMZ.

“Sanchez just looks like he’s drunkenly wandering as he exits the alley, strolling down the sidewalk at 12:14 am. About 90 seconds later, he returns, walking in the opposite direction … and this is where it gets weird,” TMZ wrote. “Sanchez walks toward the alley, but doesn’t go down it … instead, he pauses and continues walking very slowly down the street and out of camera-view. Nearly 6 minutes later, he comes back and parks himself at the entrance to the alley, simply leaning against a wall for about 2 minutes.”

Sanchez then approached Tole’s truck and became aggressive, including allegedly pulling Tole out of his truck, which led to a physical confrontation that saw the 69-year-old delivery driver attempting to pepper spray Sanchez before pulling his knife and stabbing Sanchez multiple times during a fight with the former NFL quarterback. During the scuffle, Tole suffered a large gash across his left cheek.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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