A Somerville district court hearing involving two Tufts students accused of assault and battery - one with a dangerous weapon - has been postponed until April. Junior Joe Orji and Senior Eric Lindsey appeared in the court on Monday morning for a brief time until the case was delayed.
Senior Edward Lee - who suffered severe injuries from the on-campus fight last semester - filed assault and battery charges against the two students, according to Lee's attorney Jean Laroque. The court was forced to push the hearing back because Laroque was out of town Monday.
Orji, Lee, and Lindsey also faced University disciplinary action for their involvement in the December fight. Orji has not returned requests for comment and Lee has declined to discuss the case, deferring questions to his attorney.
Lindsey and Orji were both members of the football team in 2000.
According to the Dean of Students Office, which declined to confirm names, a student later identified by the Daily to be Lee suffered substantial injuries from repeated kicks to the head and stomach and a punch in the face.
The dangerous weapon in the charge refers to the boot allegedly used to kick Lee. The fight escalated from verbal confrontations that took place earlier on the night of the incident, witnesses say. Lee and Orji, who were both with friends, had encountered each other and engaged in a loud argument earlier that night.
"It was a matter of people being drunk and stupid," a witness who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Daily last week. Witnesses disagree on how the fight started, but they agreed that Lindsey either purposely or accidentally punched Lee in the face. After Lee dropped to the ground, Orji allegedly kicked him.
Lindsey, Lee, and Orji went before a Dean of Students Office panel made up of members of the Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ) and the faculty. Lindsey waived his right to a hearing and was sentenced to Level Two Probation for his role in the altercation.
Orji requested a hearing and received a semester-long suspension. The Committee on Student Life (CSL) denied his appeal. Lee was found guilty of public intoxication and harassment. Since he was already on Level Two Probation, he was also suspended for the semester. Lee's suspension was later reversed by the CSL on appeal, and he remains on Level Two Probation.
The Dean of Students Office confirmed each charge but declined to release the names of students.
