Fox Sports is not updating its staff regarding Mark Sanchez’s employment status following his alleged alcohol-fueled confrontation with an elderly man in Indianapolis the past weekend, according to a disgruntled insider speaking to the Daily Mail.

Sanchez might face up to 16 years in prison due to an altercation involving 69-year-old truck driver Perry Tole. Tole has suffered severe facial injuries, impairing his ability to speak. 

The incident saw both parties hospitalized after a confrontation outside an Indianapolis bar early last Saturday. The former NFL quarterback and Fox personality, whom Tole claims to have pepper-sprayed and stabbed in self-defense, faces a serious felony charge of battery resulting in significant bodily harm.

Despite the serious nature of the allegations, Fox has not communicated Sanchez’s job status to its staff. An insider expressed frustration, suggesting that a decision would have been swiftly made were Sanchez not in the limelight.

‘We’re left in the dark, which is unusual. If it were someone of lesser profile, they would have been dismissed immediately,’ the insider explained. ‘It’s been nearly a week without any official word or conclusion that we’re aware of. He’s off the air, but is he still receiving payment? There’s uncertainty and a lot of speculation among the staff.’ 

Tole’s family shared disturbing images showing his injuries in the hospital last week. Additionally, new surveillance video released on Friday provides further details regarding the events of that morning.

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.

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. 

‘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.

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.’