MOORHEAD — A North Dakota sheriff has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge stemming from an altercation at a Minnesota bar.

Sargent County Sheriff Travis Paeper has entered his plea to the disorderly conduct charge.

Paeper was charged in Clay County, Minnesota, for the May 14 incident at the Red Hen Taphouse in Dilworth. Paeper previously told the station that the charge was a surprise.

Court documents say Paeper was sitting at a table with three women who asked him to leave after he said something they didn’t like. Paeper told police that a woman hit him in the face five times.

—Associated Press