After he was released from the hospital and booked Sunday on assault charges in Indianapolis, former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez said he is “grateful” to the doctor who “saved my life”
Sanchez commented publicly for the first time after he was booked into Marion County Jail, but he did not discuss the case in which he was stabbed but later charged with felony assault and three misdemeanors following an altercation last weekend outside a bar with an elderly truck driver.
“Right now I’m just focused on my recovery,” Sanchez told local TV reporter Max Lewis of Fox59 News and CBS 4 Indy, according to a video posted on X. “I just wanted to thank the first responders, Eskenazi Hospital…and I just want to thank Dr. [Lindsey] Mossler, the surgeon. She saved my life, so I’m grateful for that.”
The 38-year-old Sanchez, whose right arm was in a sling, added that he is “recovering slowly” and “it’s a long process,” but he declined to answer further questions about the Oct. 4 incident before entering the back seat of an awaiting pickup truck.
The current Fox Sports analyst is facing up to six years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines for assaulting 69-year-old delivery driver Perry Tole, who has claimed that he stabbed Sanchez in self-defense.
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
Prosecutors upgraded charges against Sanchez earlier this week to a felony charge of battery involving serious bodily injury in addition to the initial misdemeanor charges for public intoxication, battery resulting in bodily injury and unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle.
Sanchez, who was with the Jets from 2009-13, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and posted a $300 cash bond after his mugshot was taken.
He is scheduled to return to court in early November.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
