A 61-year-old Albert Lea man charged in August with cutting another man with a knife outside the Nasty Habit Saloon has pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault.

Eddie Alvin Hopper, 61, entered the plea Monday in Freeborn County District Court. A jury trial will be scheduled.

Court documents state Hopper allegedly cut the man on the cheek with an 8-inch knife during an alleged altercation after midnight on Aug. 23.

According to the victim’s interview with police, Hopper had come into the smoking area of the bar with his bicycle and had been asked to take his bike outside.

After Hopper walked out of the bar, he allegedly began acting aggressively and threatened to kill people. Court documents state he pulled out a knife and began slashing at the victim, and the victim suffered a cut to the face and a punch to the ribs.

Hopper then rode away on his bicycle, reports stated.

When officers interviewed Hopper, he reportedly stated he had gone to the bar to smoke a cigarette, when a man began screaming at him unprovoked. He said the man followed him outside and hit him in the back of the head, so he began to defend himself.

Later, Hopper reportedly told police unprovoked that he did not stab the man but that the man’s face might have hit his belt.

Hopper has been released from the Freeborn County jail on a $25,000 non-cash bond.