Twin Cities media goes black on brutal Minneapolis Police beating

Nov. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- On November 20, 2012 - ten days ago in the early morning, Minneapolis Police pulled over college student Mario Booker, an African-American male who attend college at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Mr. Booker's attorney, Mike Padden tells ON POINT, Mario Booker was kicked, hit and beat into a coma, which lasted over 24 hours. Before the incident, Mr. Booker had filed numerous complaints against one of the officers involved in the beating - but no remedy came about from Mr. Booker's consistent complaints.

Today Mr. Booker has three surgical plates in his head; stitches covering his face and broken ribs. Mr. Booker will need to be watched closely for the next few months due to his injuries.

What the community cried out for was a need for the local mainstream media outlets to report this unfortunate incident. The affiliates from FOX, CBS, NBC, and ABC along with the Star Tribune newspaper side-stepped reporting on the incident in favor of reporting about the new Minneapolis Police Chief taking over.

ON POINT co-host Ronald A. Edwards told IBNN NEWS, "This is what they do. The local media had every opportunity to follow up and obtain police reports and do interviews - none of the television stations or newspapers told their viewers and readers about this heinous incident.

To add gas to the fire, Don Allen, co-host with Mr. Edwards said, "I called the Fox News affiliate and talked to a senior producer who wanted me to call and get police reports and photos of the victim." Then she said, "I don't know if this is true." Allen told IBNN, "I don't get a check from Fox 9 News in Minnesota - why are these people so lazy?"

The Star Tribune's veteran reporter Steven Brandt sent out an email via Minnesota's E-Democracy attempting to discredit Black news in Minnesota by saying, "Maybe Mr. Allen or Mr. Cavlan can tell us where in the non-corporate media-aside from Mr. Allen's blog in which "I do not place a great amount of faith-one can read coverage of the beating Mr. Allen describes."

Join Ronald A. Edwards and Don Allen - tomorrow, Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 3 p.m. (CST) for the exclusive interview with Mario Booker and his attorney Mike Padden. If there is any doubt this incident happened - there will not be after tomorrow.