The mother of Michael Brown, a black teenager who was fatally shot by a police officer in the city of Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, may soon have oversight over the same police department where the officer worked.
Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, is one of three candidates running in the city’s 3rd Ward city council elections on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. The 39-year-old will face off against incumbent Keith Kallstrom and Fran Griffin.
{mosads}McSpadden’s son, Brown, was shot a total of six times by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in August 2014. His death sparked months of unrest and protest in Ferguson and across the country.
The FBI concluded that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense following a struggle for the policeman’s weapon.
The FBI’s investigation into Brown’s death and the failure to secure an indictment brought a national spotlight to police shootings of unarmed African-Americans.
“I wanted to go back and do something right in a place that did something so very wrong to my son, and I think that’s what my son would want as well,” McSpadden told The Associated Press in an interview released on Tuesday.
McSpadden on Monday told the news agency that she plans to make police accountability one of her top priorities if she wins the council seat.
“I think they should work much harder to prove that they are there to protect and serve, because no one believed that in August 2014, and people are still skeptical,” McSpadden said.