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 allegedly attacking a truck driver, officials said Monday.
Sanchez was initially charged with a string of misdemeanors before Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced that the one-time New York Jets star would face a felony charge of battery involving serious bodily injury.
“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,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Chris Bailey told reporters. “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. The Fox Sports commentator is also facing three misdemeanor counts: battery with injury, public intoxication, and unlawful entrance of a vehicle.
He was scheduled to appear before a judge on Tuesday morning.
As of Monday morning, prosecutors said that Sanchez was still in the hospital.
Sanchez’s defense attorney declined to comment on Monday, shortly after the new charge was disclosed.
Sanchez, 38, allegedly assaulted a truck driver while intoxicated in Indianapolis before the victim stabbed him multiple times in what he described as self-defense, according to a court affidavit.
Sanchez was in town to work the Las Vegas Raiders-Colts game Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium when he allegedly approached the truck driver at a nearby hotel loading dock, according to a court affidavit.
A 69-year-old truck driver, identified in court documents only as P.T., was working for a company that recycles used cooking oil at the time of the incident, the affidavit said.
Sanchez allegedly told the driver he and his truck couldn’t be at that loading dock before “video shows Mr. Sanchez grabbing and throwing P.T. towards the wall of the Westin,” the court document said.
“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,” the affidavit added.
The pepper spray appeared to affect Sanchez briefly, but he eventually wiped his face and allegedly advanced toward the victim again, officials said. P.T. told police he feared the one-time player was “trying to kill” him, according to the affidavit, leading to the stabbing.
“I’m not going to say anything at this time, thank you,” Sanchez’s wife and “Chad Powers” actor Perry Mattfield told NBC News before hanging up.
Sanchez, a Southern California native, played eight seasons in his NFL career that spanned over 10 years, from 2009 to 2018.