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.’”
“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.
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.
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.
Read the full article here
