Baltimore mother filmed hitting her son after catching him in riot says she didn’t want her child 'to be another Freddie Gray'
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Version 0 of 1. A single mother who was filmed hitting her son repeatedly as he was allegedly preparing to take part in the Baltimore riots has said she reacted so furiously because she did not want her child to become “another Freddie Gray”. Toya Graham, a mother-of-six, was filmed hitting and berating her 16-year-old son after spotting him wearing a mask amid protesters, apparently about to throw objects at police. The unrest gripping the city of Baltimore began after the funeral of Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of a severed spine he sustained while in police custody. Spotting her son in the crowds, Ms Graham chased and shouted at him before dragging him back to their home. Her decision to frog-march him out of the crowd saw Ms Graham praised as “mother of the year” and applauded by thousands online as the video went viral. She told CBS News that after making eye contact with her son she didn’t even think about the cameras and media gathered. "That's my only son and at the end of the day I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray,” she said. “But to stand up there and vandalise police officers – that’s not justice. I’m a single mom, I have six children, and I just choose not to live like that anymore. I don’t want that for him. "He said, ‘Mom, when I saw you my instinct was to run’. I'm a no-tolerant mother. Everybody who knows me knows I don't play that. He knew. He knew he was in trouble.” Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts thanked Ms Graham for taking action. “I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there tonight,” he told the network. |