Mark Sanchez
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Mark Sanchez
After a week in an Indianapolis hospital recovering from stab wounds, former New York Jets and USC quarterback Mark Sanchez appeared in public Sunday for the first time since the incident that led to a felony charge of “battery involving serious bodily injury,” against the retired, eight-year NFL veteran.
The 38-year-old father of three was booked into Marion County Jail in Indianapolis Sunday morning on the following charges, according to WXIN Fox 59 reporter Austin Hanson:
•Battery resulting in serious bodily injury — a Level 5 Felony
•Battery resulting in bodily injury — a Class A Misdemeanor
•Unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle — a Class B Misdemeanor
•Public intoxication that endangers the life of another — a Class B Misdemeanor
As part of his booking, police took an official mug shot of Sanchez, when was then posted online by WXIN reporter Max Lewis.
Sanchez Declines to Apologize to Victim
According to prosecutors’ accounts, Sanchez was the aggressor in a violent confrontation with the 69-year-old driver of a cooking oil recycling truck, Perry Tole of Indianapolis.
After an allegedly drunken Sanchez attempted to enter his truck, attacking him, Tole first pepper-sprayed Sanchez to no avail. The driver then defended himself with a knife, stabbing Sanchez multiple times while also suffering a deep knife wound to his own face in the altercation, the official accounts of the incident say.
Indianpolis police were first notified of the fight between the former NFL player and the older man at 12:35 a.m. on October 4, according to court records cited by WXIN.
The former quarterback turned Fox Sports football commentator spoke briefly to local news reporter Russ McQuaid outside the courthouse, but when McQuade asked if he had anything to say to Tole, Sanchez declined.
“I guess the real thing here is I just want to thank Dr. Mosler, the surgeon,” Sanchez said. “She saved my life. So I’m grateful for that.”
#EXCLUSIVE: Former NFL Quarterback and FOX Analyst Mark Sanchez is out of the hospital and was booked into the Marion County Jail this morning. He was there to be fingerprinted and have his mugshot taken. The judge said he must do this before being able to leave Indiana. pic.twitter.com/B0CR4F8EH7
— Max Lewis (@MaxLewisTV) October 12, 2025
Sanchez ‘Focused on Recovery’
Sanchez said that he did not want to address questions about the incident on Sunday, but did not rule out possibly making later comments.
“Right now I am just kind of focused on my recovery and I just want to thank the first responders, Eskenazi hospital, Marion County Sherif, and the Indianapolis Police Department, metro PD,” Sanchez also told McQuaid. “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. It’ll be a day to answer all these questions, and unfortunately today is not that day.”
Also issuing a public statement was Erin Campaneris, the model who is the mother of Sanchez’s oldest child, an eight-year-old boy.
In a post to her Instagram account quoted by the Daily Mail newspaper, Campaneris rather cryptically stated that she was not surprised to hear about the stabbing incident, and that she remains concerned for the safety of the son she shares with Sanchez.
“Now that everything is out in the open, my focus hasn’t changed,” Campaneris wrote. “I have always been concerned for his safety and for what he is exposed to. Sadly, none of this is surprising to me.”