Wells teens charged in alleged beating

Published 9:34 am Thursday, October 20, 2011

WELLS — Two teenage students of United South Central High School face felony charges after an alleged incident during driver’s training classes.

Sixteen-year-old Conner Christopher Long, of Kiester, appeard in Faribault County District Court Monday after being charged with third-degree assault for substantial bodily harm.

Not all minors in Minnesota appear in juvenile courts. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds facing felony offenses appear in open-to-the-public adult courts.

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The other teen facing a felony-level charge is a girl and is in a juvenile court not open to the public. Presumably, she is 15 or younger.

The incident that led to the assault charge allegedly happened Oct. 6. The court complaint said an officer responded to a call from a Wells home regarding a teen boy bleeding from the nose with an eye swollen shut. The complaint said a teen girl confronted the alleged victim after he made a comment that upset her in the training class.

The complaint said Long and the girl knocked the boy onto the ground and kicked and hit him. The boy’s parents took him to Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea, and he was later transferred to a Rochester hospital for facial fractures, according to the Faribault County Register.

Faribault County Attorney Troy Timmerman informed Judge Douglas Richards that school officials do not want Long at any school events or activities or on school grounds.

USC Superintendent Jerry Jensen said the school is still investigating the incident and declined to comment.

Defense attorney Duncan Schwensohn entered a not guilty plea for Long. A court trial was requested and is scheduled to last one day. Long was released from Elmore Academy and is under an electronic home monitoring system, according to the Register.