ANNAPOLIS, Md — For 616 weeks, Tawanda Jones has been hosting West Wednesdays.
A protest for her brother Tyrone West, who died in police custody after officers pulled him over on Kelway Road in 2013.
WATCH: Sister of man whose death was found to be homicide in OCME audit speaks out
On Tuesday, Jones found out that her brother's death should have been ruled a homicide, according to an audit of the state's Office of the Medical Examiner.
"Do you feel like you're finally vindicated in all that effort that you put in?" we asked Tawanda.
"Not at all, I feel like I'm finally being heard, but I'll be vindicated when I have killer cops in the cell blocks," she said. "Anybody that's culpable in this cover-up of one and many others like this is disgusting. It didn't start with my brother, but I'm just so glad that they're seeing it now, seeing what we've been telling them over a decade."
Tawanda says the state spoke with her and the 43 other families impacted by the audit, which reviewed cases where people died during or after being restrained by police.
She says they went over the details of the audit and explained what might happen next.
"I'm so glad, and I know my brother's smiling down and saying, Thank you, little sis, thank you, and he's not going to rest until we have full accountability for him," said Jones.
"I can't explain how it feels. It's just like it's so much. Like I said, I've been out here from day one, never turned my back, still teach school, just out here trying to hold up my brother Tyrone West and all the victims of police brutality and murder," added Jones.
