SARANAC LAKE — A downtown business owner has been charged with assaulting another downtown business owner during an alleged altercation earlier this month.

Bruce R. Darring, 77, of Saranac Lake was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon with intent to use, a misdemeanor, on Aug. 19 for an incident which allegedly occurred on Aug. 9, according to reports from the Saranac Lake Police Department.

Silver Birch Cycles owner Justin Oliver said Darring allegedly hit him with a shovel and called him a racial slur.

Darring told police he was defending himself from Oliver.

Oliver, 48, was also charged with second-degree harassment, a violation, for “acts which alarm or seriously annoy.” SLPD Chief Darrin Perrotte said the charge of harassment can be used when someone strikes, shoves or kicks someone, adding that assault charges require physical injury.

Police said both men were arraigned in Brighton Town Court and released on their own recognizance.

Video of the incident from cameras on Darring’s shop has been taken as evidence and is not currently available to the public.

Both sides say the video will prove their claim correct.

“We have it on video that (Oliver’s) accusations are incorrect,” said Kathleen M. Dyer, an attorney who is representing Darring. “Completely false allegations that will be proven through video tape.”

Oliver and Darring’s shops are next to each other. The mechanical repair area in the back end of the bike shop is right across a thin parking lot from Darring’s woodworking shop.

Oliver said a man rode through the parking lot on a longboard when Darring’s dogs allegedly chased him. He said the dogs have allegedly bitten people before. Darring told police that his dogs did not attack the longboarder.

Oliver said he ran after the dogs to get them away from the boarder. An incident report from SLPD says Oliver told the man to file a police report and that Darring, who had been carrying a shovel, came over and said there was “no need for that.” The two have had a longstanding dispute, Oliver said.

He said they started yelling at each other and alleged Darring called him “n****r.”

“Both Bruce and Justin kept yelling at each other and then Justin came towards Bruce,” the report states. “Both were wrestling with the shovel and were pulling back and forth during the altercation.”

The report is based on statements from the men, as police arrived 10 minutes after it took place.

“He took his shovel, swung, and ‘wham,’ hit me right in the side,” Oliver said.

The report says officers observed a red mark on his lower back.

Oliver went to the hospital and said that nothing was broken.

The case should be back in court before Town Justice David Hayes on Oct. 27 for pretrial work.