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Ex-professional football player Mark Sanchez was charged with battery with injury, public intoxication, and illegally entering a car following an early morning incident in the city that resulted in his hospitalization with knife injuries.

Key Facts of the Altercation

According to court documents, Sanchez approached a 69-year-old truck driver at a hotel loading bay. The older man claimed he believed “Sanchez is trying to kill me” and used a defensive spray to defend himself. When the spray failed to halt the former athlete from advancing on him, the man reported stabbing the former quarterback “two or three times”. Sanchez then allegedly threw the man against a dumpster before a look of shock came across his face and he “ran away”.

Detectives have reviewed recorded video of the event. Witnesses said that Sanchez and the driver recorded one another with their cellphones throughout the altercation.

Police wrote in the legal document, “The suspect is seen chasing [the man] and the video depicts him seizing and hurling [the man] towards the wall of the hotel.”

Origin of the Conflict

The dispute allegedly started after Sanchez and the driver disagreed about a parking spot.

Injuries and Aftermath

This altercation resulted in stab wounds to his torso, while the driver suffered lacerations to his face. The former player was hospitalized for his injuries, which were not life-threatening, before he was arrested on that day. He is due to appear at a court session on the coming week.

According to the affidavit, he informed officers “the only thing he recalled was reaching for a window.” He did not remember the identity of his assailant or the location of the event.

Official Response

“This incident should never have happened,” a prosecutor commented. “Starting as a disagreement between a 38-year-old former professional athlete and a 69-year-old man ought not to have turned into violence or caused severe harm to anyone. As with any case, we will adhere to evidence and regulations wherever they lead.”

Professional Impact

The analyst was in the city to report on the football match with the Las Vegas Raiders on the weekend as part of his broadcasting responsibilities. Another former NFL quarterback replaced him in the booth for Sunday’s game. The network acknowledged the incident in passing on their sports program, with a host saying: “we are all still trying to wrap our heads around it … our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and all those involved”.

He began with the network in recent years and also works on FS1 studio programming.

Background

Prior to becoming an analyst, the athlete played a decade in the league with multiple franchises, including the one team, who drafted him early in the annual selection. He later played for the another team and Dallas Cowboys. He retired in July 2019 and shortly thereafter began working with ESPN’s college football coverage before transitioning to his current employer.

Off the field, Sanchez married his wife, Perry, in 2023. The couple shares a family of five.