Toya Graham is a single mother of six who is tough on her children and always looking out for their well-being.
Graham, one of her daughters told CNN, is the woman in a video from the Baltimore riots that has become a sensation online.
In video captured Monday by CNN affiliate WMAR, Graham is seen pulling her masked son away from a protest crowd, smacking him in the head repeatedly, and screaming at him.
As he tries to walk away, she follows him, screaming, “Get the f— over here!”
Eventually, he turns toward her, his face no longer covered. The boy is dressed in dark pants and a black hoodie, with a dark backpack on.
WMAR reports that Graham dressed in light blue jeans, a yellow lace tunic and a cropped yellow jacket, saw her son on television throwing rocks at police.
Graham told CBS News that she and her son made eye contact and she didn’t even think about the news cameras when she went after her boy.
“That’s my only son and at the end of the day I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray,” she told CBS.
Tameka Brown, one of Graham’s five daughters, told CNN on Tuesday it wasn’t that hard for her mom to spot her 16-year-old brother.
“She knows her son and picked him out. Even with the mask on, she knew,” Brown said.
Her brother is actually grateful that his mom came to get him, she said. He understands Graham did it because she wants to keep her son alive.
“She has always been tough and knows where we are at,” Brown said.
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts thanked her in remarks to the media on Monday night.
“And if you saw in one scene you had one mother who grabbed their child who had a hood on his head and she started smacking him on the head because she was so embarrassed,” he said. “I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there tonight.”