Former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez is facing a felony charge after his physical altercation with a 69-year-old truck driver this weekend left the other man with what the prosecuting attorney described Monday as “significant and very severe” injuries.
The driver, Indiana resident Perry Tole, also filed a civil lawsuit Monday against Sanchez, alleging that he had suffered “severe permanent disfigurement, loss of function, other physical injuries, emotional distress, and other damages” as a result of the 38-year-old former NFL player’s actions.
Marion County, Ind., prosecutor Ryan Mears told reporters at a news conference Monday that Sanchez was being charged with a level five felony of battery involving serious bodily injury, which Mears said could result in one to six years in prison.
After a preliminary probable cause affidavit was filed by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on Saturday, Sanchez was charged with three misdemeanors — battery resulting in injury, unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication.
Further investigation by the IMPD preceded the filing of a second probable cause affidavit Monday morning, which led to the felony charge against Sanchez.
“Once we were provided with additional information about the victim’s current medical condition, it became clear to us that additional charges needed to be filed,” Mears said during the joint news conference with IMPD Chief Chris Bailey.
Mears added that it’s possible that more charges could come connected to the incident that occurred late Friday night and into early Saturday morning in an alley outside a downtown Indianapolis hotel.
“One of the things that I’m going to stress to everybody is that we are still in the early stages of this investigation,” Mears said. “Chief and his team have a number of search warrants that are still outstanding. They’re still tracking down additional information. This is, by no means, the end of this investigation. This, by no means, means that these are going to be final charges that we move forward with.”
Sanchez remained in the hospital and was listed in stable condition as of Monday morning. According to court documents, the 2009 Rose Bowl MVP was booked on the misdemeanor charges Sunday and a $300 bond was posted on his behalf at that time.
Mears said Monday that since the case will be now transferred to a major felony court, it would be up to the new court whether an additional bond will be issued based on the new charge.
Attorneys James H. Voyles Jr. and Jennifer M. Lukemeyer, listed in court documents as representing Sanchez in the criminal case, declined to comment to The Times.
An initial court hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning has been postponed until Nov. 4.
According to the first IMPD affidavit, which was based on hotel surveillance footage and a statement Tole gave to the police, Tole had backed his box truck onto the hotel’s loading docks while performing his job with a company that recycles and disposes of commercial cooking oil.
Sanchez allegedly confronted Tole and said that the hotel manager had told Sanchez he didn’t want the driver to replace the cooking oil. The Fox Sports analyst, who was in town to call Sunday’s Raiders-Colts game for Fox Sports, allegedly smelled of alcohol at the time.
During the ensuing altercation, Sanchez threw Tole toward a wall and also onto the ground, the affidavit said, before Tole, believing he was in danger, sprayed Sanchez with pepper spray and eventually stabbed him.
“Certainly the thing that stands out to us is this was a situation that did not need to occur,” Mears said Monday. “… We’re literally talking about people fighting over a parking space or a dispute about where people are parking, and it resulted in someone receiving just incredibly significant injuries.”
Tole suffered a laceration on his left cheek and was taken to a different hospital than Sanchez, the affidavit said. Max Lewis of WXIN-TV in Indianapolis reported Sunday that Tole’s family said that the cut “went through his cheek and hit his tongue,” making speech difficult.
Lewis also posted photos he said were provided by the family that showed the driver in a hospital bed with sheets that appeared to have several blood stains on them near the area of the cut on the man’s cheek. Tole, whose eyes had been blackened out to protect his identity at the time, is wearing what appears to be a neck brace and is hooked up to monitors.
Later on Sunday, family members told the New York Post of Tole, “He’s OK.”
They added: “We are talking to lawyers first. We want to be careful what’s said.”
Tole’s civil lawsuit, filed Monday in Marion County Superior Court, states that he suffered “significant injuries to his head, jaw and neck.”
Sanchez’s employer, Fox Corporation, is named as a co-defendant in the civil suit, on a count of neglient hiring, retention and supervision. Fox Sports did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times.
Tole is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.