By Allyson Chiu | The Washington Post

When Beronica Ruiz went to pick up her 12-year-old son from school in Passaic, N.J., last week, it wasn’t the first time that day she needed to be there. Hours earlier, Ruiz and her husband had met with the school’s vice principal over concerns that their son was threatened by other students who allegedly chanted “All Mexicans should go back behind the wall,” the family’s attorney told The Washington Post.

The New Jersey couple was upset the school didn’t inform them about the taunts, but left the June 19 meeting feeling “somewhat reassured” after the vice principal said he would contact the students and their parents, said Daniel Santiago, the lawyer.

VIDEO: Mother speaks out after assault by a 13-year-old school bully

But as Ruiz, who was pushing her 1-year-old daughter in a stroller, walked home from Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 with her son that afternoon, the boy noticed they weren’t alone. Three boys trailed behind — and he recognized them.

“[He] turned to his mother and said, ‘Mom, those are the children that were threatening me and they’re following us,’ ” Santiago said.

Moments later, a 13-year-old boy allegedly attacked. Santiago said the boy first punched Ruiz’s son in the face. When the 35-year-old mother tried to step in, the teen hit her and “threw her to the ground,” causing her to lose consciousness, Santiago said.

“This was a brutal hate crime and it was committed by a 13-year-old,” 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.”

Ruiz was hospitalized for two days after the alleged beating, which left her with facial fractures and a concussion, Santiago said.

On Tuesday, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office announced that the 13-year-old, who fled the scene, had been arrested and charged following the June 19 incident. He faces one count each of aggravated assault and simple assault, and has been released to his parents pending an appearance in family court, according to the news release. The attack was condemned by Passaic City Mayor Hector C. Lora, who said in a statement to The Post that he was “outraged,” adding, “what happened to the mother is unacceptable.”

“This incident is being taken extremely seriously. I have met with and spoken personally with the family,” Lora said, “I have met with my chief of police, local officials and school administration as well as board members to make sure there is accountability and that this family receives justice as well as any help and resources we can provide so they can heal and feel safe.”

However, Santiago maintains that the violent attack could have been avoided if the school had responded differently to the initial bullying complaint, noting that he is planning to file a lawsuit on behalf of the family. School officials did not respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.

“Just practically speaking, if the boy wasn’t in school, if he had been disciplined for actually using racially charged slurs, this attack would not have happened,” the attorney said.

The 13-year-old suspect is African American, Santiago said. Ruiz and her husband are Mexican and are in the U.S. on work permits while they await green cards, but their children are American citizens, he said.

The day before the alleged assault, Santiago said Ruiz’s son was in the school cafeteria when a group of students started mocking him about his ethnicity, telling him to “Go back behind the wall.”

In response to the bullies, Santiago said the boy “quite astutely” pointed out, “We’re all immigrants, so what are you talking about?” But instead of defusing the situation, “the other boys became violent” and started threatening Ruiz’s son, Santiago said.

“He pulled one of the teachers aside and said, ‘I’m scared for my safety,’ ” the lawyer said. “The teacher grabbed the attention of a security guard and they essentially sequestered my client’s son in a room for his own safety.”

Though the school appeared to see “the threat as very real,” Santiago said Ruiz and her husband were not made aware of what happened until their son told them.

During the meeting with the school’s vice principal, the administrator admitted fault, telling the parents that “it slipped his mind” and “he should have contacted them,” Santiago claimed.

“That in itself is a woefully inadequate response,” he said, later adding, “If my son’s health and his well-being and indeed his life was in danger and the school knew about it and they failed to report it to me, someone dropped the ball. That is a failure on the school district’s part.”

It is not exactly clear what motivated the 13-year-old to allegedly go after Ruiz and her son, but the mother told NBC New York that the teen was swearing loudly when he approached the family on the street. Ruiz said when she tried to get the 13-year-old to stop, he told her to “shut up” and punched her.

By the time she regained consciousness and called the police, her attacker was gone, Santiago said. But it wasn’t long before Ruiz saw him again.

When Ruiz was released from the hospital, she and her husband took their son back to school only to discover that the teen was still attending classes “as if nothing had happened,” Santiago said.

“They spoke to the vice principal again and the response they received was, ‘Well, he has the right to an education just as much as your son does,’ ” Santiago said.

The boy was only suspended after Ruiz’s husband called Lora, the mayor, Santiago said. (Lora has not commented on his involvement.) It is unclear whether the other two boys present that afternoon have faced disciplinary action, though Santiago said they “tried to stop the 13-year-old.”

The school has also now offered to pay for the family’s medical bills, Santiago said.

“We do appreciate the gesture,” he said, “but at this point, it’s too little too late.”

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Robert Graetz, who backed Montgomery boycott, dies at 92 Santiago said that while Ruiz’s physical injuries have started to heal, “her emotional wounds are slower to recover.”

“My son, he can’t sleep, and I don’t sleep because I am very worried,” Ruiz told ABC7 News.

In Tuesday’s statement, prosecutors made no mention of hate crime charges, although that’s how Santiago categorizes what happened.

“This began by boys chanting that Mexicans should go back behind the wall,” he said. “What spurred them to threaten violence was [Ruiz’s son] advising that we all come from immigrants. . . . That anger triggered in this young boy enough hate and enough fury to attack a woman, an adult, with no fear.”