Apr 29, 2015 10:47 PM EDT
She should be called "mom of the year" for the brave beat-down she gave her son after he was caught rioting in Baltimore with a young crowd of protesters. We finally have identified the woman who basically whooped her son's ass for throwing rocks at police officers in this weeks riot. Her name is Toya Graham.
MStars News previously reported that videos went viral everywhere as Graham pushed and grabbed her son beating him over the head for being out in the streets of Baltimore doing the chaotic riot.
Now the mother is speaking out just why she gave her son "hell" for being a part of the uncontrollable riots that took hold of their city.
When Toya was asked by CBS reporters if she felt like a hero after disciplining her only son on live TV, Toya said: "I don't. My intention was to get my son and have him be safe. At that point I knew that whole thing was not safe at all."
Toya claims that she warned her son not to go downtown to protest but he did it anyway. "I said to him, Michael [Singleton] go to school don't go to Mondawmin Mall."
Toya says that she had instinct that her son at went where she told him not to go. When Toya saw her son, all hell broke loose as she saw her own son throwing rocks and bricks at the police.
"To see my son with a rock in his hand, I just lost it," the mother admitted. Toya recognized her son even with his hoodie and face mask on. "It was something about those sweatpants he had on, and we made eye contact," Toya claims that made her know for sure that the boy participating in the riots was in fact her own son.
"For him to do what he was doing, was unacceptable," Toya told CBS. The mother revealed that she was so upset because Michael is her only son, and she didn't want to loose him to the streets.
"A lot of his friends have been killed, so my thing is I want to keep him in the house, and I know he's going to get out," she said. Toya admitted that her son is not angel, "He has been in trouble before, and he knows right from wrong. He's like the other teenagers that doesn't have a good relationship with the police officers."
The mother added an important message and said: "Two wrongs don't make a right."
Toya claimed that she thought her pastor was going to have a fit when he saw his church member in the streets fighting her son.
According to CNN's Anderson Cooper, one of Graham's daughters is inspiring to become a police officer. The single mother also spoke to CNN along with her son and told Cooper that Michael "wasn't brought up like this."
Toya claims that she wasn't embarrassed about hitting her son in front of everyone. "He was actually embarring his self by wearing that mask and doing what he was doing. At one point I told him to take the mask off, "Why are you hiding behind the mask? If you want to be bold enough to do this, then show your face.'"
Toya wanted everyone to know, "At no time is my son a thug."
Toya isn't working at the moment and is seeking employment, hopefully a good company will see the caring mother for who she is and hire her!
Cooper also had some time with Toya's son, Michael as he told the reporter that his mother was worried about him, and "didn't want him to be another Freddie Gray."
Michael claims that he went down to the mall because "a couple of my friends have been beaten by the police and killed by the police so I felt I needed to go down there and show my respect."
He claims that he was shocked when his mother arrived and spotted him, making eye contact. "I was like 'Oh yeah, I know that's my mother."'
The 16-year-old claims "It was World War III," and that he "was embarrassed a little."
Hopefully he learned his lesson!
