Newport Beach

Boy With Autism Attacked After Photographing Couple in Newport Beach

'It's not with bad intent -- it's what he likes to do."

The mother of a teenage boy with autism says a couple who attacked her son after he took photographs of them wouldn't stop even when she told them about his disability.

Beatriz Fox, of Newport Beach, said taking pictures of people with his iPad calms her 16-year-old son Christopher McVay.

"It's not with bad intent," Fox said. "It's what he likes to do."

On Saturday, McVay was sitting in the back seat of his mother's car, in front of their house on Balboa Boulevard, when he snapped photos of a man and woman walking by.

The couple became upset, and the woman allegedly approached the car, opened the door and started pushing him, Newport Beach police said.

"She's shoving him and she's pushing him, she's yelling and cursing him," said Christopher's sister Mila McVay. "I was yelling, 'What are you doing? Why are you pushing my brother?'"

Fox ran out and tried to explain to the couple that her son has a disability, but she said that didn't stop them.

"She was cursing me out, she was cursing my child out," she said. "My worst nightmare, ever."

Police are now seeking the public's help in identifying the man and woman. The woman is described as Caucasian with long, dark hair, approximately 24 to 27 years old, 5 feet and 5 inches tall and weighs about 125 pounds. She was wearing an olive green jacket and cropped black leggings during the attack.

The other alleged suspect, is described as a dark-haired Caucasian male with facial hair, approximately 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs between 200 and 220 pounds. He was last seen wearing a "Newport Beach Lifeguard" novelty t-shirt.

The boy's family wants everyone to learn from this attack.

"I've always known there's a possibility that people might not understand my brother's disability," Mila McVay said. "So, to finally see somebody actually going after him — it was really scary."

"He's a child, he's a child with a disability," Fox said. "He wasn't hurting them -- they need to come forward. They need to turn themselves in and be responsible for what they did to another human being."

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