A New Jersey mother was recently hospitalized after she said she was beaten to unconsciousness by a 13-year-old who also allegedly attacked her son and had told him to go back to Mexico, The Washington Post reports.

According to the newspaper, Beronica Ruiz and her husband had met with officials at a Passaic school last week after her son was allegedly threatened by a group of students that mocked his ethnic background and told him: "Go back behind the wall."

Daniel Santiago, an attorney representing the family, told the Post that although Ruiz and her husband said they were upset with school officials for not notifying them about the alleged taunts, they felt some assurance after officials said they would notify the other students' parents.

However, things allegedly escalated last week when Ruiz visited the school to pick up her son.

According to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, Ruiz and her son were attacked by one of the youths who had allegedly targeted her son with racial taunts on their walk home.

Prosecutors said in a statement that the 13-year-old struck Ruiz after she stepped in front of him, "causing her to temporarily lose consciousness and fall to the sidewalk." He also allegedly struck her son in the face.

The 13-year-old, who is African American, has since been charged with one count of aggravated assault and simple assault. The prosecutor's office said the was released to his parents pending a court appearance.

Santiago told the Post that the family is now seeking legal action over what they see as a failure from school officials in handling the initial alleged racial taunts.

"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," he 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."

Passaic Mayor Hector Lora has also expressed outrage over the incident and said it is "being taken extremely seriously."

"I have met with and spoken personally with the family," Lora also 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."