An officer with New York transit police is under investigation for beating up an eighth grader, WABC reports.

The victim’s father told the station that not only did the bully attack his son, the bully’s father, an MTA Bridges and Tunnels officer, also joined in the melee at Bronx Mathematics Prep School, egging his son into a fight and then punching the victim in the ribs.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ruben Caraballo, 36, was arrested and charged with assault for allegedly punching the child in the ribs while off duty, the New York Post reports.

“He punched him really hard; he had Ruben on top of my son hitting him in the head. He said to his son, ‘Draw blood,'” the victim’s father, Sean Harris told WABC.

The boy’s mother, Monica Harris, said Caraballo went to the children’s school and “and had his son point out my son.”

Her child got scared and started running and the pair followed him in a car for three blocks, she told the Post. She said the officer’s son pinned her child down and Caraballo hit him.

“What this family wants is for this… police officer to be held accountable for what he did,” the family’s attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, told WABC.

ADVERTISEMENT

According to the New York Daily News, Caraballo was trying to teach his son to “fight back” against a bully, but the Harrises claim the other boy is twice the size of their son. They said the officer was egging his son on to fight.

“No matter what position you hold, if you assault a 13-year-old child, you will be held accountable,” Rubenstein told the Daily News.

According to the Daily News, Caraballo remains on active duty, though he is not allowed to carry a fire arm while he is under investigation.