16-year-old Stefan Perez began marching into downtown Detroit with 15 people. More and more joined him until he became an unwitting leader of a large crowd. Above all else, the Michigan teen vowed to keep everyone in line, and get them back home safely.

At the end of the march, after no looting or fights, he urged the protesters to comply with the city's 8 p.m. curfew so that no one would get hurt.

With a megaphone thrust into his hand, he kept the protesters calm, even though he said "they were scared," and some of them tried to defy his peaceful intentions.

"I tried to keep everybody together, I tried to keep everybody as a collective group, and we marched," he told The Detroit Free Press. "I'm surprised people listened to me. I'm glad they did because they're not hurt right now, 'cause they could be."