From staff reports

AUBURN – An Edward Little High School junior was back in school Thursday, a day after he was allegedly beaten by two other students in a school hallway.

The 17-year-old victim was taken Wednesday morning to a Lewiston hospital, where he was treated for head and facial injuries, according to school officials.

The two teens accused of punching and kicking him have been suspended for up to 10 days, according to school officials. Police and school officials said their investigations are continuing and more people may face discipline.

Police said they will release their findings to the district attorney’s office for possible prosecution. Investigators would release no further details about the fight.

The students who were suspended are believed to be 17 years old, school officials said. They were not identified.

Another EL student who witnessed the aftermath of the fight said the victim was semi-conscious on the floor of the hallway when it was over.

“He was just laying there. There was a lot of blood all over the place,” the 17-year-old said. “He couldn’t stand up by himself. He couldn’t talk. When he tried to get up, he kept falling over.”

That teen was not involved in the fight and did not want to be named. He said he and another student used paper towels to clean blood from the victim’s face, then helped him to the nurse’s office.

School officials and others involved in the case said the attack was related to an incident earlier this year in which the victim’s sister was struck by a belt after a high school basketball game.

That incident led to a verbal exchange between two groups of teens, from both Lewiston and Auburn, school officials said. The hostilities between those groups carried over to the fight on Wednesday.

EL Principal Jim Miller said the dispute started as a “he said, she said, you said” situation. “It was a rumor-type of thing.”

Miller insisted on Thursday that fights similar to the one on Wednesday are rare at EL.

The pair accused in the assault were officially suspended on Thursday. School officials said the length of the suspension would be determined by results of the continuing investigation. Of the two teens involved, he said, “They acted before they spoke or thought.”