A 20-year-old White Bear Lake man was hospitalized in fair condition Tuesday, four days after being stabbed near his home allegedly at the hands of a neighbor during an altercation.

Jeffrey Thomas Rice (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Mason Fike was brought to St. Paul’s Regions Hospital in critical condition early Saturday with stab wounds to his small intestine, colon, kidney, bladder and spleen. Doctors told his family he could have died from his injuries without quick medical intervention, according to charges against the 19-year-old neighbor.

When officers arrived on scene in the 2100 block of Southwood Drive just before 2 a.m., Fike was on his back in grass near the curb and a 19-year-old woman was applying pressure to a large wound to his lower abdomen.

She told police that she and Fike were on a walk near his home when he yelled at kids riding bikes, telling them it was past their bedtimes. She said a man, who police later identified as Jeffrey Thomas Rice, came outside from a house and began to yell at them, the charges say.

Fike walked back toward the street in front of the house and met Rice at the street. She said Rice threw the first punch at Fike before stabbing him.

Rice’s sister told police she heard yelling and screaming from outside and that her brother “stormed outside” and confronted people about the noise, the complaint says. She said her brother and Fike argued and then fought and that her brother stabbed him with a pocketknife.

Mason Fike, center, of White Bear Lake, suffered serious injuries after being stabbed near his home on July 27, 2024. (Courtesy of GoFundMe)

Rice drove off but was stopped by police in White Bear Lake. He had blood on his skin and clothing, but no injuries. Police later found a pocketknife in a yard near the scene of the stabbing.

The complaint does not say whether Rice and Fike knew each other prior to the altercation.

Later, after being booked into jail, Rice was recorded asking someone during a call, “Is that dude all right?” The person on the other end said, “I don’t think so.”

Rice replied that the other person should not “say (expletive)” and that it was “self-defense.” He added, “I do apologize for doing that, though.” Rice claimed that Fike and his girlfriend were drunk and causing a scene.

Rice was charged with first-degree assault and made a first appearance before a Ramsey County district judge on Tuesday. He was released from jail with conditions after posting a $30,000 bond.

A GoFundMe page set up over the weekend to help with Fike’s medical expenses had raised more than $45,000 as of Tuesday night.

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