By
Alex Sundby
Alex Sundby
Senior Editor
Alex Sundby is a senior editor at CBSNews.com. In addition to editing content, Alex also covers breaking news, writing about crime and severe weather as well as everything from multistate lottery jackpots to the July Fourth hot dog eating contest.
Updated on: October 6, 2025 / 2:42 PM EDT
/ CBS News
Former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez was charged with a felony over a violent altercation in Indianapolis over the weekend, officials announced Monday.
Sanchez was charged with felony battery involving serious bodily injury, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears told reporters. If convicted, Sanchez would face a sentence ranging between one and six years, Mears said.
Sanchez, who has been an NFL game analyst for Fox Sports since 2021, was hospitalized with multiple stab wounds following the altercation early Saturday morning.
The incident stemmed from what Mears described as a dispute over where a man was parked.
“This was a situation that did not need to occur,” Mears said. “The allegations involve a 38-year-old man becoming involved in an altercation with a 69-year-old man who sustained significant and very severe injuries.”
Mears said the investigation was still in its early stages and additional charges could be filed.
Sanchez also faces several misdemeanor charges, including battery resulting in injury, public intoxication and unlawful entry of a vehicle, authorities said in a statement.
The other man involved in the altercation works for Restaurant Technologies, a Minnesota-based company that recycles and disposes of commercial cooking oil, according to the company and court documents. The man, identified in an affidavit for probable cause as P.T., was in a truck in an alley that was backed into a loading dock area for a Westin hotel when the incident unfolded.
P.T. later told police that Sanchez had said he couldn’t be at the loading dock, according to the affidavit. He initially thought that Sanchez could be the hotel’s manager because he was well-dressed, the court document said. When P.T. leaned closer to Sanchez to try to hear him better because he wasn’t wearing his hearing aids, he told police that Sanchez allegedly smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred.
When P.T. said he tried to get his cellphone from the truck to call his manager, Sanchez allegedly blocked him, according to the affidavit. He then tried to get into the truck on the passenger side, but Sanchez allegedly blocked him there too. When P.T. tried again to get in on the driver’s side, Sanchez allegedly shoved him, the court document said.
P.T. said he sprayed Sanchez with pepper spray in the face, according to the affidavit. Sanchez wiped his face and then allegedly advanced toward the man, the document continued.
“This guy is trying to kill me,” P.T. told police what he thought at the time.
He said he pulled out a knife and stabbed Sanchez two or three times when Sanchez allegedly came at him, the court document said. P.T. told police he flew into a dumpster, fell on some pallets on the ground and then saw Sanchez’s feet allegedly coming at him. He said he scrambled to his feet and stabbed Sanchez once more.
P.T. recalled to police that Sanchez looked shocked as he slowly turned around and took off, according to the affidavit.
The document stated that the man suffered a severe laceration to the side of his face.
Sanchez’s agent, Andrew Kessler, had previously told CBS News that Sanchez was is in stable condition and recovering in a hospital. As of Sunday, Sanchez had not been booked into jail, police said.
Alex Sundby is a senior editor at CBSNews.com. In addition to editing content, Alex also covers breaking news, writing about crime and severe weather as well as everything from multistate lottery jackpots to the July Fourth hot dog eating contest.
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