The Stonington highway department employee involved in a June 23 on-the-job fight with a landscaper on Prentice Williams Road in Old Mystic entered a not guilty plea Tuesday in New London Superior Court.

Timothy Keena, who is charged with third-degree assault, had his case continued to Aug. 31 and was ordered by a judge to have no contact with the landscaper, Morgan Dean of North Stonington, who is slated to appear in court Friday.

The town also has begun a process to determine whether Keena should be disciplined or fired.

According to Keena’s arrest warrant, during his fight with the 36-year-old Dean of 29 Clarks Falls Road in North Stonington, Keena brandished a paving rake and at one point was swinging it at Dean.

Dean, a mixed martial arts competitor who was charged with breach of peace, third-degree assault and second-degree assault, told police that Keena approached him with the rake and began threatening him with it.

He said Keena then used the rake like a hockey stick to cross check him to the bridge of the nose, breaking his glasses.

Both Dean and the highway employees agreed that the dispute began when Dean drove his tractor over a freshly paved piece of road to reach a lawn on the street. Highway employees began yelling at him to stop and confronted him, using profanities.

Keena told police he approached Dean with a paving rake in his hand and became involved in an argument with him. He admitted walking over to Dean and asking him “What the (expletive) is your problem?”

Highway worker Joseph Ferraro told police that Dean pushed Keena and Keena pushed back. Dean then punched Keena and Keena retaliated with a punch before falling to the ground, where Dean kicked him in the head. Keena told police that Dean shoved and punched him and he punched him back.

According to the warrant, Dean and Keena fought for control of the rake at one point and Dean said he threw it into the yard where he was working.

He said Keena later began swinging the rake like a baseball bat as three other highway employees were coming at him.

That’s when Dean picked up a lawn chair “like a lion tamer” and told the four employees coming at him to stop. That’s when the altercation ended.