New Jersey mom beaten by school bully who told son 'to go back to Mexico,' lawyer says

Beronica Ruiz, 35, of Passaic, was attacked June 19 as she pushed a stroller with her 1-year-old daughter while her 12-year-old son walked with her, her attorney, Daniel Santiago, told NJ.com.

The 13-year-old who allegedly attacked Ruiz was one of three students who threatened her son and told him "to go back to Mexico," Santiago told the website.

Several hours earlier, Ruiz and her husband met with the vice principal of The Gifted and Talented Academy in Passaic, concerned about taunts leveled at her son that included the chant :All Mexicans should go back behind the wall," Santiago told The Washington Post.

After Ruiz picked up her son later that day, she said she was followed by three students, one of whom punched her son in the face, the newspaper reported. When she tried to intervene, Ruiz was hit by the juvenile, "causing her to temporarily lose consciousness and fall to the sidewalk," the Prosecutor's Office told the North Jersey Record.

Ruiz was taken to a local hospital and treated for a concussion and a fractured eye socket, NJ.com reported. The juvenile was charged with one count each of aggravated assault and simple assault, the Prosecutor's Office said. The boy was released to his parents pending an appearance in family court, the Record reported. He has been suspended from school, officials said.

"Despite this accusation, the juvenile is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said in a statement.