A man in the US has told police he was stabbed during a fight on Saturday night – but did not realise there was a knife in his back until it was pointed out on Sunday.

The 42-year-old from Trenton, New Jersey said he managed to get an undisturbed 10 hours of sleep before his brother informed him he had a 5-inch blade poking out of his torso.

Police told the New York Daily News that they were not entirely convinced by the unidentified stab victim’s story, and added that he had thus far been “very uncooperative” with detectives.

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Trenton Police Lt Mark Kieffer told the newspaper: “I don't know if we believe his story. It's hard to believe, but sometimes (with an incredible incident) it's just dumb.”

Officers were first called on Sunday morning, after the knife was “found”. The victim told them he was smoking a cigarette on his porch at 2am when a man approached asking for a light.

The victim told police he refused, at which point a brief fight broke out from which the alleged stabber fled. The man apparently told officers it was “too cold” to go “chasing after the guy”.

He thought nothing more of it and went to bed – and said he only found out he had been stabbed when his brother told him so the next day.

Lt Kieffer said police took the man to hospital, where he was in good spirits and expected to be released soon.