A police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, is “fighting for his life” after being seriously injured in an attack outside the city’s police station during protests marking the 10th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, the city’s police chief said Saturday.

Protesters were mostly peaceful Friday night and police allowed them to block streets in front of the station, Ferguson Police Chief Troy Doyle told reporters. Police also did not intervene when protesters began shaking a fence in front of the station.

But Doyle said that when protesters broke through the fence and destroyed property on police property, he sent out an arrest team that included black officer Travis Brown.

Doyle said a suspect tackled Travis Brown and threw him to the ground. Travis Brown suffered a severe brain injury in the fall after hitting his head.

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Police Chief Troy Doyle said Officer Travis Brown wanted to be “part of the change” in the Ferguson community. Now the officer is “fighting for his life.” (AP Photo/Jim Salter)

“He is currently in a local hospital fighting for his life,” Doyle said of the officer.

Doyle said Travis Brown started with the department in January and previously worked for the St. Louis County Police Department. He is part of a wave of black officers hired into the department since 2014. At the time, there were only three black officers in the department, but now black officers make up more than half of the force, Doyle said.

“He wanted to be part of the change,” Doyle said. “He wanted to make a difference in our community. He’s the kind of police officer we want in our community. And what happens? He gets attacked. I had to look his mother in the eyes and tell her what happened to her son. I will never do that again, I promise you.”

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St. Louis County District Attorney Wesley Bell also met with the officer’s family.

“I always talk about how the hardest part of this job is when we have a family that has lost a loved one and we can’t get justice,” Bell said. “And that’s where I have to make a change. The hardest thing I’ve had to do is talk to and comfort a mother who doesn’t know if her child is going to make it. And for what?”

A memorial for Michael Brown will be erected on Canfield Drive in Ferguson on August 7. A Ferguson police officer was seriously injured on Friday during protests marking the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death. (AP Photo/Jim Salter)

Two other officers were also injured. One suffered an ankle injury and the other an abrasion. Both were treated at the scene.

One of the suspects was charged Saturday with assault on a special victim, resisting arrest and criminal damage to property. He was being held on $500,000 cash bail.

Bell said others will also face charges.

The death of Michael Brown sparked mass demonstrations that helped solidify the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Missouri and across the country.

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In 2015, the Justice Department declined to bring charges against Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Michael Brown, but released a highly critical report pointing to racial bias in the Ferguson police and district courts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.