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Fox Sports is keeping its employees in the dark about Mark Sanchez's future despite his alleged drunken attack on an elderly man in Indianapolis last weekend, a furious insider has told the Daily Mail.
Sanchez is facing up to 16 years in jail following the ugly incident involving 69-year-old truck driver Perry Tole, who has been left with such brutal facial injuries that he is now struggling to speak.
Both men were hospitalized after the alleged brawl in an alley outside an Indianapolis pub early last Saturday morning, before the retired NFL quarterback and Fox star - who Tole claims to have pepper-sprayed and stabbed in self-defense - was hit with a felony charge of battery involving serious bodily injury.
Despite the nature of the accusations leveled against him, Fox is yet to clarify with its employees whether Sanchez is still in a job or not. An insider has fumed that the decision would already have been made if he was not of such high profile.
'We haven't been told anything, and it's weird. If it were me or any of us other 'lesser' people, the poor schlubs, we'd have been fired the very next day,' the source fumed. 'With Mark Sanchez it's almost a week and there's been no announcement, no formal resolution that the rest of us know. He's not on air, but is he still getting the paycheck? Nobody knows and it's a big what the f*** around here. Everyone is still gossiping about it.'
Tole's family released shocking photos of their loved one in hospital last week, which showed the sickening facial lacerations he has been left with. Fresh surveillance footage released on Friday has also shed new light on the timeline of events from the morning in question.
Fox Sports is keeping its employees in the dark over the future of Mark Sanchez (right)
Sanchez is facing up to 16 years in jail for allegedly attacking 69-year-old Perry Tole (pictured)
The battered driver has since been released and is now recovering at home from his deep lacerations, which his attorney Erik May says are causing him difficulty speaking.
'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,' May told CBS News, via Fox59. 'He's a tough son of a gun. Its remarkable that he's still alive.'
The attorney also claims that Perry is now set to miss his son's wedding next week as a result of the injuries he sustained. 'He's sad about that,' May said.
Footage emerged last week of Sanchez walking around a street corner with a huge blood stain on his shirt following the alleged stabbing. And now a new video captured in the area has provided a full timeline of events.
In the footage, which was obtained by TMZ Sports, Tole is first seen pulling up in his service truck at 12:05am before driving south down the alley of the alleged attack - where Sanchez appeared to already be on the move.
When he parked up the driver was out of camera view, so it is unclear if they saw each other at that early stage. However, Sanchez then walked north out of the alley around seven minutes later while stumbling a little bit.
The ex-football star was not injured or agitated at this point, instead strolling down the sidewalk unfazed at 12:14am. He then began walking in the opposite direction 90 seconds later as the footage takes a strange turn.
Despite walking towards the alley, Sanchez didn't go down it and instead pauses before continuing to walk slowly down the street and out of the camera's view. Almost six minutes later he then comes back and stops to lean on a wall at the entrance to the alley for a couple of minutes.
New footage of the incident shows Tole first pulling up in his service truck at 12:05am
The grease truck driver is then seen driving south down the alley of the alleged attack
Sanchez walked north out of the alley around seven minutes later while stumbling a little bit
He then began walking in the opposite direction 90 seconds later in a strange turn of events
Sanchez didn't go down the alley and instead paused before walking down the street. Six minutes later he came back and stopped to lean on a wall for a couple of minutes
Another bystander, who was not involved in the alleged attack, then walked past while appearing to speak to him
Sanchez followed it up by turning and heading toward the loading dock where Tole was parked
At 12:30am, the Fox pundit was then seen running out of the alley following the alleged attack
Another bystander, who was not involved in the alleged attack, then walked past while appearing to speak to him. There was no physical interaction between the two of them, however, and Sanchez followed it up by turning and heading down the alley toward the loading dock where Tole was parked.
He initially paused behind a dumpster before jogging towards Tole's location until he is again out of camera view. It is at this time - between 12:25 am and 12:30am - that he is accused of pulling him out of his truck and provoking the bloody encounter. Tole alleges that he pepper sprayed and stabbed Sanchez, who he claims slashed his face.
At 12:30am, the Fox pundit then ran out of the alley before turning it into a walk when he reached the street, where a huge blood stain could be seen on his shirt. Indianapolis police and fire fighters are then seen arriving seven minutes later, putting up crime-scene tape and heading down the alley to help Tole. At 12:47am the injured driver is spotted being wheeled out on a gurney and taken straight to hospital.
Tole suffered brutal lacerations in the bloody brawl but is now recovering at home after being released from hospital.
It is alleged that Sanchez took issue with him parking his truck in a loading dock while he collected cooking oil on his night shift, as it was disrupting his impromptu workout.
May, however, doesn't buy the alleged story about Sanchez and Tole getting into such a wild altercation over a parking dispute.
'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,' the legal expert stressed.
After running out of the alley he eventually slowed down into a walk as he reached the street
A huge blood stain could be seen on his shirt after his alleged altercation with Tole
Indianapolis police and fire fighters were then seen arriving at the scene seven minutes later
At 12:47am Tole was spotted being wheeled out on a gurney and taken straight to hospital
'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.'
'Its not my understanding the Mr. Sanchez has reserved parking on that street,' May added. '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.'
May claimed that Tole is going to be left with scars 'forever' following the attack, before adding that it's 'a small price to pay to be alive'.
He also says that his client is grateful to hear of Sanchez's own recovery. 'This could have turned out a lot worse and he's thankful to be alive and he's thankful that Mr. Sanchez is alive,' May added.
Incredibly, this is not the first time Tole has faced the unimaginable, as he was once featured in a 2021 news story outlining the harrowing details of his sister-in-law's near death experience after she was shot at an Indianapolis gas station 10 years prior.
Marcy Birnell, Tole's wife's sister, was left permanently injured after a 15-year-old boy shot her during a robbery at a local convenience store in October 2011. She was working an overnight shift as a clerk at the time.
Sanchez is facing up to 16 years in jail after being hit with a Level 5 felony charge
The ex-quarterback pictured with his wife Perry Mattfeld and eight-year-old son Daniel
Tole was seen standing beside his relative, speaking about her strength throughout the entire incident and how it changed her life forever as part of a local campaign to raise awareness.
'She has lost her independence, her ability to be an individual living on her own, living her own life the way she wants to,' he previously told Fox 59 News.
'What they don't take into consideration the consequences that families like ours have to deal with,' Tole added.
'It's devastating to us because we know what its like firsthand.'
