A 46-year-old Freeland man is accused of slicing another man on the hand with a knife during an argument about video surveillance, court documents state.

Prosecutors charged Thomas R. Hicks in Island County Superior Court July 11 with second-degree assault.

The alleged victim, a 54-year-old man, told the investigating deputy that he had some friends over on July 8 and they were sitting outside on the porch. He claimed Hicks, who is a neighbor, started videotaping them.

The man said he walked over to Hicks to ask him to stop; Hicks allegedly pulled out a small kitchen knife and “swiped” at him, cutting the palm of his hand, according to the report by Deputy Sean Warwick with the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

The deputy wrote that the cut was about an inch long and exposed the muscle and fat in his hand.

Hicks, however, denied cutting the man and said he never had a knife. He claimed that the alleged victim called him an offensive name and was yelling at a neighbor’s farm animals, Warwick wrote.

Hicks said he ran away when the man approached him and threatened to break his camera, the report states.

Another neighbor said the alleged victim had been yelling at sheep.