Linden Fire Department members rescue kid from bullies

The mother of a Linden boy says EMTs with Linden's Fire Department went above and beyond to help their son after he was bullied on a school bus.

In a Facebook post by Hope Moran the Linden Fire Department department shared on its own page, Moran said her son Jonathan was assaulted on his school bus, suffering minor injuries to his face lips and mouth.

"It seemed to initiate with a he-said-she said type thing, that I am told Jonathan ignored. This apparently transpired on the morning bus ride to school. On the afternoon bus ride the student called Jonathan a 'cracker' and then proceeded to punch him in the face," she wrote.

A firefighter, Danny Diaz, wrote in his own post, also shared by the FD: "They were making fun of his sneakers and then proceeded to all beat him up."

Jonathan attends Lincoln School, a special education school in Cranford. Jonathan is a high-functioning autistic child who struggles with self-control, his mother wrote. But in this case, he maintained his cool, and "did not retaliate, he did not say or do a thing and I could not be prouder," Moran wrote.

When the Linden Fire Department responded to the incident, members wouldn't return Jonathan to the bus, and instead drove him home to to his mother, she wrote.

"During the ride the EMTs were chatting with Jonathan and Jon shared his diagnosis with them and also some of his hopes and dreams for the future," she wrote.

She continued: "Thank you (department members) Brian Paster, Hilda N Jose Espinal and the entire Linden Fire Department for your generosity, and community service! You are truly heroes in my book!"

The department's goodwill toward Jonathan didn't stop there. In a video Moran posted, Paster and Espinal are seen presenting Jonathan with gifts: an American flag because he'd expressed interest in joining the military someday, a "Your Mother's Favorite Firemen" T-shirt — and a new pair of sneakers.

"That's all for you for being such a great kid, for keeping your cool, for not losing it, and for being the better person," Espinal tells Jonathan on the video.