Ex-NFL Star Mark Sanchez Hit with New Charges After Shocking Brawl Ends in Stabbing and Hospitalization.NN
Former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is now facing felony charges that carry a potential six-year prison sentence as prosecutors upgraded the accusation against him Monday following his alleged fight with a 69-year-old grease truck driver.
After seeing the extent of the victim’s injuries, and factoring in the man’s age, Sanchez’s charges were upgraded from several misdemeanors to a Level 5 felony battery of causing serious injury, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears told a press conference on Monday morning.
A Level 5 felony battery conviction in Indiana carries a prison sentence of between one and six years, with an advisory sentence of three years and a fine of up to $10,000.
The Fox Sports analyst was initially charged with three misdemeanors — battery with injury, unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication.
“This is by no means the end of this investigation,” Mears said.
Timeline of the Mark Sanchez stabbing and arrest
Friday Night
- Mark Sanchez, 38, is in Indianapolis to serve as a Fox Sports analyst for the Raiders-Colts game on Sunday. He’s observed acting “erratically,” doing “wind sprints” in the alley behind Loughmiller’s Pub and Eatery in the downtown.
Just after midnight
- A grease truck driver picking up cooking oil from a nearby hotel parks his truck in the loading dock, blocking the alley where Sanchez is doing sprints.
- Sanchez approaches the driver to try to get him to move and eventually gets into an altercation where he body-slams him toward the wall and then to the ground.
- The driver sprayed Sanchez with mace or pepper spray, but the former NFL quarterback continues attacking him.
- The driver pulls a knife and stabs Sanchez two or three times in the chest, believing, “This guy is trying to kill me.”
- Sanchez turns around and heads up the alley.
12:30 a.m.
- Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers respond to a report of a person shot. They locate Sanchez in Loughmiller’s Pub.
- It’s later reported that Sanchez is uncooperative with responding officers. He tells the detective he can only remember “grabbing for a window” and nothing else about the incident.
- Sanchez is rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
- The driver also suffered “significant injuries,” including lacerations to his cheek and jaw, with a cut that allegedly went through his cheek and hit his tongue.
Saturday
- Sanchez undergoes surgery for stab wounds to the chest, and is stable.
- He is arrested at the hospital and charged with misdemeanor counts of battery resulting in injury, public intoxication, and unlawful entry of a motor vehicle.
Sunday
- Sanchez is discharged from the hospital Sunday morning and transferred directly to central booking at Marion County Jail, where he reportedly posts his $300 cash bond.
Monday
- Sanchez’s charges are upgraded from several misdemeanors to a Level 5 felony battery of causing serious injury.
Sanchez, who was in Indianapolis to cover Sunday’s Colts-Raiders game for Fox Sports, was stabbed several times in the chest and rushed to the hospital in a critical condition following the incident at around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday.
His condition has since been upgraded to stable.
Accounts from witnesses, the victim, and the police paint Sanchez as the aggressor, after he allegedly body-slammed the truck driver, who was collecting grease from nearby restaurants. Sanchez is also accused of stabbing the man in the face.
“We are literally talking about people fighting about a parking spot,” Mears said.
An initial hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.
“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, commit violence, we will use all the tools that are at our disposal to hold you accountable,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Chris Bailey told Monday’s press conference.
Video obtained by The Post on Monday shows Sanchez staggering down the street clutching his bloody torso just moments after the stabbing.
He stumbled into the nearby Loughmiller’s Pub & Eatery, where the bartender tried to treat his injuries before the ambulance arrived.
