Mum beaten and left unconscious by 'son's 13-year-old school bully'
A mother has sustained serious facial injuries after being beaten in an alleged unprovoked beating at the hands of a 13-year-old boy who bullied her son.
Beronica Ruiz was knocked unconscious and sustained a broken eye socket in the alleged attack, which unfolded at Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School, in New Jersey, on June 18.
Her son had allegedly been taunted in the school’s cafeteria the day before, in an incident school officials had failed to contact Ms Ruiz about, The Washington Post reported.
The 12-year-old boy explained the situation to his mother that afternoon, and she complained to the school’s vice principal the following day. She was upset the school hadn’t made contact with her.
But as she was pushing her one-year-old in a stroller and walking home with her son, she was brutally set on by one of three children who allegedly bullied her son.
“This was a brutal hate crime, and it was committed by a 13-year-old,” Ms Ruiz’s lawyer Daniel Santiago said.
“I don’t know what circumstances could give rise to a 13-year-old boy having such hate in his heart that he would commit this brutal attack and leave a woman essentially to die in front of her children without any remorse or any twinge of conscience.”
Ms Ruiz’s son had allegedly been the victim of hateful chanting the day before, with bullies allegedly yelling: “all Mexicans should go back behind the wall”, Mr Santiago said.
Ms Ruiz was hospitalised for two days following the alleged beating, with the alleged perpetrator fleeing the scene and later being arrested and charged.
The teenager was charged with one count each of aggravated assault and simple assault, and was released to his family ahead of his court appearance.
Mr Santiago has filed a law suit on behalf of the family against the school, claiming the incident could have been avoided if the school had responded differently to the initial incident.
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