Truck driver sues former NFL QB Mark Sanchez, FOX Sports over downtown alley attack

INDIANAPOLIS - A man who said he was attacked by ex-NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez at midnight in a downtown alley last weekend is suing the Fox Sports football analyst and Fox Corporation, claiming his employer, "knew or should have known about Defendant, Sanchez's unfitness as an employee, propensity for drinking and/or harmful conduct."




Sanchez was stabbed two or three times in the alley fight.




The lawsuit alleges "Defendant, Sanchez, appearing intoxicated, instigated an altercation with Plaintiff (Editor's Note: FOX59 News is not naming the victim bringing the lawsuit), claiming that Plaintiff...could not be at the location and that Defendant, Sanchez had spoken to the hotel manager."




At 12:30 Saturday morning, the man was working for a company that collects restaurant kitchen oil for recycling and had parked his truck in an alley just off Maryland Street between the Westin and Downtown Marriott hotels.




The Plaintiff claims, and security video apparently confirms, that Sanchez harassed him, tried to enter his truck, chased him around the vehicle and cornered him between a dumpster and some wooden pallets.




"Despite the use of pepper spray, Defendant, Sanchez continued to advance toward Plaintiff," reads the lawsuit, "resulting in a physical altercation which resulted in Plaintiff...suffering significant injuries to his head, jaw and neck."




FOX59/CBS4 News has obtained photographs of the man in his hospital bed, wearing a neck brace with a deep bloody laceration through his left cheek. The lawsuit claims the truck driver suffered "severe disfigurement, loss of function, other physical injuries, emotional distress and other damages."

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The lawsuit goes on to claim that "Defendant, Fox Corporation, owed a duty of care to the Plaintiff...to ensure that its employees conducted themselves in a reasonable manner."




Sanchez was in Indianapolis to prepare for the broadcast of Sunday's Colts/Raiders game at Lucas Oil Stadium.




The 69-year-old truck driver is seeking undetermined compensatory damages, punitive damages and costs and expenses.




Fox Sports has not issued a statement on Sanchez's status with the network beyond a comment during Sunday's pre-game show when host Curt Menefee said, "Friday night in Indianapolis, one of our team members, Mark Sanchez, was involved in an incident that, to be honest, we're all still trying to wrap our heads around."




The lawsuit was filed on the same day that Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced his office had filed an enhanced Probable Cause Affidavit to charge Sanchez with a Level 5 felony Battery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, which includes a one-to-six-year prison sentence if convicted, in addition to three previous misdemeanor charges.




"Once we were provided additional information about the victim's current medical condition it became clear to us that additional charges needed to be filed," Mears said.




The filing of the felony followed FOX59's broadcast of the truck driver's hospital room photographs, plus an additional statement in the PC that read, "When asked to rate his pain on a scale of 10, (the victim) stated it eventually reached a 10."




The New York Post also obtained security camera video from the 300 block of West Washington Street showing Sanchez staggering out of the alley and toward Loughmiller's Pub & Eatery where he banged on a window for help, his shirt soaked in blood.




When the truck driver said he stabbed Sanchez to fight off his attack, the alleged victim told police, "Mr. Sanchez looked at him with a look of shock, he slowly turned around, and Mr. Sanchez took off northbound in the alley."




A day later, there were still traces of blood on the sidewalk and Sanchez's handprints on the bar window.




"Brought him inside and laid him down and we called 911 and put towels over the injuries that he had," bartender Scott Bennett told FOX59/CBS4.




Prosecutor Mears noted that Indiana law gives great latitude to crime victims who claim self-defense.




"Certainly Indiana has some of the most robust self-defense laws in the nation and that's always going to be part of the equation when you evaluate cases such as this when you're trying to determine what took place and it will certainly be at the center of this particular trial as well when we have conversations about were people acting reasonably or not and in Indiana you have no duty to retreat."




As Indiana is a constitutional carry state and assault victims are entitled to utilize deadly force, including firearms, to repel what they perceive to be a life-and-death attack, FOX59's Russ McQuaid asked IMPD Chief Chris Bailey if Sanchez was fortunate enough to be alive to recover from his stab wounds as well as fight for his innocence in court.




"We're lucky that no one's dead right now as a result of this incident that involved a knife, but certainly more people have guns and we have to be mindful of that as we start and deal with conflict in our community," said Bailey




Mears said that while a blood alcohol draw for a patient such as Sanchez would be typical procedure at the hospital, he did not yet know the results of such a draw nor the results of an IMPD investigation into Sanchez's actions in the hours leading up to the fight or the accounts of his associates.




"We need additional information and the chief's team is working on that and once we receive that additional information, additional charges might be appropriate to file," he said. "In a case like this you consider, where were people coming from? Where were they going? What were they doing? And once individuals receive medical care, we are very interested in seeing what those medical records look like because a lot of times they can give us greater insight into what was going on that day and potentially provide some insight into individuals' state of mind."




Sanchez is being represented by noted Indianapolis defense attorney James Voyles who has waived his client's initial hearings on the misdemeanor and felony charges and is preparing for a pre-trial hearing on November 4.





via: https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/truck-driver-sues-former-nfl-qb-mark-sanchez-fox-sports-over-downtown-alley-attack/