Ex-NFL QB Mark Sanchez's alleged victim fights back in court

INDIANAPOLIS - For the second time in just a few days, Perry Tole finds himself fighting back against former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez.




The first time was early Saturday morning in an alley between a pair of hotels off West Washington Street when the truck driver was confronted by the Fox Sports NFL analyst and told he couldn't park his truck in a loading dock.




A fight ensued, Tole said he stabbed Sanchez in the chest in self-defense and Sanchez is now charged with a battery felony while Tole is home recovering from a deep facial laceration that's left it hard for him to speak.




While Sanchez is also recovering from his injuries, he and his employer are being sued by Tole.

"Mr. Tole is a 69-year-old senior citizen, he's 5'8", goes about 165. Mark Sanchez is a former NFL athlete, a former NFL quarterback. He's 6'2", 235. The optics of it, my client's not gonna pick a fight with anybody, let alone a former professional athlete," said attorney Erik May. "Why did this happen? Was it over a parking dispute? I don't think it was over a parking dispute. My client was the victim of a violent attack."




Tole told IMPD officers that Sanchez, who was in town to cover the Colts-Raiders game at Lucas Oil Stadium and appeared intoxicated, claimed that he had been in touch with the manager of the Mariott Downtown Indianapolis hotel and told the truck driver he couldn't park his rig in the alley where a police source indicates Sanchez had been acting erratic and doing wind sprints.




"Its not my understanding the Mr. Sanchez has reserved parking on that street," May said in an interview with CBS News. "My client was doing his own job minding his own business, literally, when he was confronted by this individual whom he did not know who was saying things to him that he could not understand."








One thing Tole could understand, though, was what it was like to be a victim of crime.




FOX59/CBS4 first met Perry Tole in October of 2021 as he literally stood by his sister-in-law's side as she recovered from being shot in the head at a convenience store by a stranger.




"What they don't take into consideration the consequences that families like ours have to deal with," Tole told FOX59 on that day four years ago. " It's devastating to us because we know what its like firsthand."




May said his client now has his own long road ahead to recovery.




"He's going to be living with this for a long time," said the attorney. "He's gonna have scars forever, unfortunately, but that's a small price to pay to be alive."








Twenty-four hours after the attack, Tole's family shared photographs from the hospital that detail a deep laceration in his cheek from the fight.




"What you don't see in those pictures is that the inside of his mouth and his tongue have been affected in a way that makes it difficult for him to speak, so he has a very hard time communicating right now and that has a lot to do with his injuries, exhaustion," said May. "He's a tough son of a gun. Its remarkable that he's still alive."

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May said his client is grateful that his alleged attacker will apparently recover, too.




"This could have turned out a lot worse and he's thankful to be alive and he's thankful that Mr. Sanchez is alive."




In 2021, while he supported a failed legislative attempt for greater protection of convenience store workers, Tole said he was thankful that his sister-in-law survived her injuries.




"Whenever we see this happen to somebody else it breaks our hearts," he told us. "She's one of the lucky ones because there are people who have died."




The Sanchez family issued the following statement on Monday:




"This has been a deeply distressing time for everyone involved. Mark and our family are incredibly grateful for the concern, love, and support we've received over the past few days. Mark remains under medical care for the serious injuries he sustained and is focused on his recovery as the legal process continues. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the first responders and medical staff."




Sanchez is represented by noted local defense attorney Jim Voyles, who waived his client's initial hearing on the felony battery charge and three misdemeanor charges in favor of a pre-trial hearing on November 4.




Sanchez has pleaded not guilty and posted a $300 bond from his hospital bed.




"The whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense," said Tole's attorney.




May said he hopes other witnesses to Sanchez's time in town Friday night before the fight occurred will now come forward to report what they saw.





via: https://fox59.com/news/ex-nfl-qb-mark-sanchezs-alleged-victim-fights-back-in-court/