Perry Tole, the alleged victim of Mark Sanchez, reportedly said that “faith guided his hands” when he stabbed the former Jets quarterback in what he told police was an act of self-defense in an Indianapolis alley.
Tole’s longtime friend Gregg Keesling told Fox 59 that the grease truck driver involved in Saturday’s shocking confrontation with Sachez is a mild-mannered man who shies away from trouble.
“Perry doesn’t fight. In fact, I think this is probably the first fight that Perry’s ever been in in his entire life,” Keesling said. “As a matter of fact, he told me that last night. He said, ‘I’m gonna go on record. I don’t fight.’”
his wife’s family with a grease truck recycling job. Spotify/Perry Tole
“As he told me, ‘faith guided my hands to protect myself,’” Keesling said of conversation with his friend who suffered a laceration wound through his cheek which hit his tongue.
Keesling told the outlet that Tole, a 69-year-old native of Jamaica, put his music career on hold to work as a grease truck driver to support his wife and sister-in-law, who was shot in the head during a convenience store robbery in 2011.
“Perry works in recycling because he needs the money to take care of his wife’s family. He’s that kind of guy who is very connected and committed to helping others,” longtime friend Gregg Keesling told the outlet.
Timeline of the Mark Sanchez stabbing and arrest
Friday Night
- Mark Sanchez, 38, is in Indianapolis to serve as a Fox Sports analyst for the Raiders-Colts game on Sunday. He’s observed acting “erratically,” doing “wind sprints” in the alley behind Loughmiller’s Pub and Eatery in the downtown.
Just after midnight
- A grease truck driver picking up cooking oil from a nearby hotel parks his truck in the loading dock, blocking the alley where Sanchez is doing sprints.
- Sanchez approaches the driver to try to get him to move and eventually gets into an altercation where he body-slams him toward the wall and then to the ground.
- The driver sprayed Sanchez with mace or pepper spray, but the former NFL quarterback continues attacking him.
- The driver pulls a knife and stabs Sanchez two or three times in the chest, believing, “This guy is trying to kill me.”
- Sanchez turns around and heads up the alley.
12:30 a.m.
- Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers respond to a report of a person shot. They locate Sanchez in Loughmiller’s Pub.
- It’s later reported that Sanchez is uncooperative with responding officers. He tells the detective he can only remember “grabbing for a window” and nothing else about the incident.
- Sanchez is rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
- The driver also suffered “significant injuries,” including lacerations to his cheek and jaw, with a cut that allegedly went through his cheek and hit his tongue.
Saturday
- Sanchez undergoes surgery for stab wounds to the chest, and is stable.
- He is arrested at the hospital and charged with misdemeanor counts of battery resulting in injury, public intoxication, and unlawful entry of a motor vehicle.
Sunday
- Sanchez is discharged from the hospital Sunday morning and transferred directly to central booking at Marion County Jail, where he reportedly posts his $300 cash bond.
Monday
While working that late-night grease truck recycling job on Saturday, Tole had a violent encounter with Sanchez, a Fox Sports analyst, who was doing wind sprints and acting erratically in the alley behind Loughmiller’s Pub and Eatery.
The retired 6-foot-3, 230-pound NFL’er allegedly pummeled and threw Tole to the ground before Tole used mace and stabbed Sanchez two to three times in the chest in self defense, according to police and his friend.
chest, a close friend told Fox 59. FOX59
with a massive blood stain on his shirt from the stab wounds. Obtained by the NY Post
Sanchez was hit with a felony battery and three misdemeanor charges. The felony rap could carry a six-year sentence and a $10,000 fine.
“He’s beat up pretty bad, I think, both emotionally and physically, he needs some time,” Keesling told the outlet.
Keesling said he first met Tole in Jamaica where he was a talented guitarist who managed to avoid any trouble in the “violent country.”
Marion County prosecutors are awaiting toxicology results from a drug test on Sanchez who was booked into jail after being released from a local hospital Sunday and immediately posted a $300 bond.
Sanchez told police he has no memory of the incident, according to an arrest affidavit.
Tole’s family is currently suing Sanchez for punitive and compensatory damages saying the brutal assault left him permanently disfigured.
