‘Iconic’ Baltimore rioter’s mom regrets turning him in

The mother of a teenager who appeared in an “iconic” photo from the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore says she regrets asking him to turn himself in, after his bail was set at $500,000.

“It is just so much money. Who could afford to pay that?” Bobbi Smallwood told The Guardian. “If they let him go, he could at least save some money and pay them back for the damage he did.”

{mosads}Allen Bullock, 18, graced the cover of The Baltimore Sun this past Sunday, after he and some friends smashed a police car outside Camden Yards on Saturday. Bullock was arrested and charged with eight counts, including rioting and malicious destruction of property.

Bullock and his friends were reportedly participating in protests over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died while in police custody.

After Smallwood and Bullock’s stepfather Maurice Hawkins saw footage of their son smashing the cruiser, they asked him to turn himself in.

“By turning himself in, he also let me know he was growing as a man and he recognized what he did was wrong,” Hawkins said. “But they are making an example of him, and it is not right.”

If convicted, Bullock faces between four and eight years in prison.

Hawkins told The Guardian he did not regret asking his stepson to turn himself in, but Smallwood told the paper she did.