The Baltimore mother caught on video repeatedly smacking her son after catching him participating in rioting in Baltimore told CBS News that she was only concerned about protecting him. 
 
 Toya Graham CBS News 
 
 "He gave me eye contact. And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that. That's my only son and at the end of the day I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray," Toya Graham said, referencing the 25-year-old man who died after mysteriously sustaining severe spinal injuries in police custody earlier in the month. His death has sparked protests throughout the city, with tensions boiling over Monday. 
 
 Graham told CBS News she launched into action after spotting her 16-year-old son Michael wearing a hoodie and mask amid the protesters. 
 
 "At that point, I just lost it," said Graham. "I was shocked, I was angry, because you never want to see your child out there doing that." 
 
 Graham, a single mom with six children, denounced the vandalism and violence against police officers. She said rioting in Baltimore is no way to go about getting justice for Freddie Gray and that she doesn't want that life for her son. 
 
 Toya Graham lays into her son Michael after seeing him with the protesters. CBS News 
 
 "There's some days that I'll shield him in the house just so he won't go outside and I know that I can't do that for the rest of my life," said Graham. "I'm a no-tolerant mother. Everybody that knows me, know I don't play that." 
 
 It's that reputation that made her son wince the second he saw her. 
 
 "He knew he was in trouble," said Graham. "He said when 'I seen you,' he said, 'ma, my instinct was to run.'" 
 
 Graham says after she got her son home they both watched news coverage of the demonstrations and riots on television. As images of her reaction started to go viral, Graham says comments started appearing on her son's Facebook page, many in support of her. 
 
 "Friends and everybody making comments and saying you know, you shouldn't be mad at your mother, you should give her a hug," said Graham. 
 
 Graham hopes the incident will serve as a teachable moment for her son. 
 
 "And by him seeing everything what's going on I just hope, I'm not sure, but I hope that he understands the seriousness of what was going on last night." 
 
 The video has been widely circulated as people look for answers to the violence, and it even drew the attention of Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. 
 
 "I wish I had more parents who took charge of their kids tonight," he said, according to CBS Baltimore. 
 
 Graham told CBS News she thinks the situation wouldn't have been as bad if there were more mothers out there monitoring their sons. But she acknowledged there are some circumstances that can prevent moms from from doing that. 
 
 "We don't know where those mothers are at, a lot of mothers have to provide for their children," said Graham. "You can talk blue in your face to your children, but at the end of the day they gonna make their own decisions. As parents we just have to follow through to make sure that's where they supposed to be at." 
 
 Commissioner Batts told reporters late Monday night that a bulk of the rioters who pelted officers with rocks and bricks, inciting a massive display of looting and vandalism across parts of West Baltimore were area high schoolers. 
 
 "These are Baltimore youthful residents, a number of them came right out of the local high schools there on the other side of Mondawmin and started engaging in this," said Batts. "I think these were youth coming out of the high school and they thought it was cute to throw cinder blocks at the police department and address it that way." 
 
 At least 20 police officers were injured in the violence and one person was critically hurt in a fire, according to authorities. Police made 235 arrests, including 34 juveniles. 
 
 The streets were calmer Tuesday as the National Guard deployed. A 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew remained in effect. ||||| Baltimore TV station WMAR reported that a mother saw her son on television taking part in protests and went to confront him, slapping him. (AP) 
 
 A woman seen berating and hitting a black-clad teenager, later confirmed to be her son, has been hailed as “mom of the year” after her intervention on the streets of Baltimore was caught on video. As violence flared up across the city on Monday, the woman, who was identified as Toya Graham on Tuesday afternoon, was filmed telling her child to “take that f—— mask off.” 
 
 [I was knocked to the ground by Freddie Gray rioters, then helped to my feet] 
 
 Graham spoke to CBS News about the video, which initially went viral with little context. In the interview, the single mother of six tells the network that she intervened out of concern for her 16-year-old son’s safety. 
 
 “That’s my only son, and at the end of the day, I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray,” Graham said. “But to stand up there and vandalize police officers, that’s not justice.” 
 
 Fox Business contributor Charles Payne drew attention to the video in a tweet on Monday. (Fair warning, basically every video in this article will contain profanity.) 
 
 Mom of the year in Baltimore…my mother would have did same thing…https://t.co/vjxpD7hNwq — Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) April 28, 2015 
 
 By late Monday, videos of the incident were so widespread that Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts brought it up in an overnight news conference. 
 
 “And if you saw in one scene, you had a 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,” Batts told reporters. “I wish I had more parents who took charge of their kids tonight. I think these were youth coming out of the high school and they thought it was cute to throw cinder blocks at the police department and address it that way.” 
 
 [About that Baltimore mom…] 
 
 Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, WMAR, caught the encounter on camera but initially provided only this as an explanation: 
 
 This Baltimore mom saw her son throwing rocks at police on television. That didn’t sit well with her. The video shows the mother repeatedly striking her boy, chasing him as he tries to walk away. 
 
 The clip emerged alongside widely broadcast images of violence that dotted some sections of Baltimore on Monday afternoon and evening. 
 
 https://instagram.com/p/1_jHvQJfGC/ 
 
 As The Washington Post has reported, it doesn’t appear that the violence stemmed from organized protests over the death of Freddie Gray, who died of a severe spinal injury suffered while in police custody. His funeral was held Monday. 
 
 [A Freddie Gray primer: Who was he, how did he die, why is there so much anger?] 
 
 Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said late Monday that the day’s violence was the result of “thugs who always want to incite violence and destroy our city. Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who, in a very senseless way, are trying to tear down what so many have fought for.” 
 
 Although the video of one mom expressing frustration over the violence may stand out as a positive moment in an increasingly grim situation, there have been others. On Tuesday morning, volunteers took to the streets to help clean up the mess left behind. 
 
 Large group of volunteers cleaning up that burnt out CVS in Baltimore pic.twitter.com/84BVzu7SWS — justin jouvenal (@jjouvenal) April 28, 2015 
 
 [This post, initially published at 8:22 a.m., has been updated to include information from a CBS interview with Toya Graham] 
 
 For live coverage of the unrest and events in Baltimore, follow The Post’s live blog here. 
 
 MORE READING: ‘Wire’ creator David Simon: Baltimore violence ‘needs to cease’ 
 
 At Freddie Gray’s funeral, outrage over way in which he died 
 
 Why didn’t #FreddieGray trend on Twitter? 
 
 Friends and neighbors remember Freddie Gray: He ‘was our family’ 
 
 As Baltimore mayor, critics say, O’Malley’s police tactics sowed distrust
– The woman labeled "Mom of the Year" for dragging her son away from rioting in Baltimore says she didn't want her only son to end up like Freddie Gray. Toya Graham, who was filmed smacking and berating her 16-year-old son, tells CBS News that she "lost it" after she saw him among a crowd throwing objects at police. The single mother of six says she doesn't believe attacking police is any way to get justice for Gray, and she wanted to protect her son. "There's some days that I'll shield him in the house just so he won't go outside, and I know that I can't do that for the rest of my life," she says. "I'm a no-tolerant mother. Everybody that knows me know I don't play that." One of Graham's five daughters tells CNN her mom "has always been tough"—and didn't have any trouble spotting the boy in the crowd, even with a hoodie and mask on. She says her brother is grateful and understands that their mom was just trying to keep him alive. Graham says she thinks the situation on Monday would not have been as bad if more mothers had acted like her, but she understands that many may have been busy providing for their families—and there is only so much a mother can do. "You can talk blue in your face to your children, but at the end of the day they gonna make their own decisions," she tells CBS. "As parents we just have to follow through to make sure that's where they supposed to be at."