DeKALB | Football player Devon Butler, 20, received a knife wound in his upper chest after being involved in an altercation Sunday morning in the 800 block of Regent Drive, according to a press release from the DeKalb Police Department.

At 3 a.m., Butler had assisted others in physically removing Freddy Sparks-Ward , 25, from the party after fighting with him. Sparks-Ward returned twenty minutes later carrying a knife with a four-inch blade, according to a Daily Chronicle article.

Upon his return, Sparks-Ward and Butler fought again when Sparks-Ward stabbed Butler in the upper left chest.

“When officers arrived, some people still remained, including a person consistent with a stab wound,” said DeKalb Sgt. Jason Leverton . “After Devon and the people he was with fought him off, he went running.”

DeKalb police officers arrested Sparks-Ward at 9:30 a.m., according to the press release. Sparks-Ward told officers he had thrown the knife he had behind a nearby apartment complex. The knife was recovered and logged into evidence.

Butler was treated at Kishwaukee Community Hospital and released a short time later, according to a press release. Leverton said his injury was not a major knife wound and was not life-threatening.

Donna Turner, associate director of communications in the intercollegiate athletics department, said Butler was back to working out on Monday.

Leverton said Sparks-Ward is not a student and has a permanent address in Chicago. He was currently staying in an apartment on Annie Glidden Road.

Sparks-Ward is charged with armed violence, aggravated battery and battery and in addition to being charged with criminal trespass, as he had previously been banned from the University Village complex where he was apprehended. If Sparks-Ward is convicted of the armed violence charge, he could serve up to 30 years in prison, according to the Daily Chronicle article. Bond was set at $200,000.

Leverton said the details are still being worked out. It is not known if further charges will be filed, according to the press release.

Butler was involved in another altercation last year on April 5. According to a April 11, 2011 Northern Star article , Richard Van Arsdale III and former NIU student Mark Orozco are charged with attempted murder after shooting Butler. An individual wanted to purchase cannabis from Orozco and Arsdale. Several hours later, Butler went into 1009 Aspen Drive, where the two subjects shot the apartment building four times.