Residents take to streets to help clean up after riots, fires

We saw what many describe as the "worst of Baltimore" on Monday, but as we watched rioting and looting, there were plenty of people who tried to stop the violence.

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WBAL-TV's Megan Pringle met some of the people who are cleaning up the most devastated areas.

Images: State of Emergency Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Rioters looted a CVS Pharmacy on Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday, grabbing what they could before burning it down. But what was seen by fewer people is the story about what happened afterward.

"It was disbelief, honestly. I see everything that looks familiar to me and it just looks like a war zone," Jason Butler said.

Butler was at the store just hours after the looting was over. Everyone was gone but Butler and the police.

"I had to come out here and try to clean up and try to get the city back, back together," he said.

Before he got his broom and came to the littered area of Pennsylvania Avenue, he called his sister, Monica Mitchell.

"He said, 'Monica, I can't sleep. I got to do something.' I said: 'I was thinking the same thing.' And he said, 'All right. Let's roll,'" she said.

And they did. They started cleaning up their old neighborhood. Viewers who saw Butler responded to his plea.

"Anybody who's out there -- come on out," he said.

The neighborhood took his words to heart, and as the sun came out, so did the volunteers.

"We see you guys on TV saying you need help with cleanup, so I figured I'd get my hands on it before I go to work," volunteer Anthony Curtis said.

"It's got to be cleaned up, so I'm going to do what I can and try to help to clean it up to get back on track," volunteer Rickey Cooper said.

City workers removed the cars that were burned to a crisp, and volunteers came in to clean up the scars left behind.

Those who work on the front lines saw it, too.

"There was one image where a gentleman poked a fire hose. That was disappointing, but at the same time, there we were -- a thousand individuals making sure they could go through, making sure those guys were OK," said Bob Maloney, director of the mayor's Office of Emergency Management.

They hope the good acts that are sometimes lost serve as reminders of just how good Baltimore can be.

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