The University of Illinois suspended Leron Black from its basketball team indefinitely following his arrest for aggravated assault.
According to The Associated Press, Black threatened a bouncer at a bar in Urbana, Ill. with a knife, starting a fight and prompting other bouncers to intervene. He was arrested around 12:30 a.m. Friday and was held on $5,000 bond.
"An officer stopped Black as he was walking away from the club and found a small folding knife on the sidewalk a few feet away in the direction Black had been walking," police spokesman Patrick Wade told The Chicago Tribune. "Witnesses said Black had threatened security personnel with the knife as staff removed him and others from the club following a fight."
At a brief hearing Friday afternoon, Black pleaded not guilty after confirming to Judge John Kennedy he understood what he was charged with: one count of a class 4 felony aggravated assault. Black faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, The News-Gazette reported.
Black, 20, is a six-foot-seven sophomore who has missed most of the Fighting Illini's season with an injury.
University of Illinois Police Lt. Tom Geis told the newspaper the bar's security tried to remove Black for an undisclosed reason.
"He felt the bouncers were unfair and that his group should not have been kicked out," Geis said. "Black told them he pulled the knife because he felt the bouncers would have the upper hand on him physically."
