The reporter sustained bruises to his body as the police officer dragged him from his car and wrestled his camera from him.
(CEMESP/IFEX) – New Dawn newspaper reporter Edwin Genoway has revealed that police officer Edward Kollie brutalized him on Sunday February 12th 2012. The incident happened at ELWA Junction when the reporter attempted to take photographs of a bribe-taking episode involving the police and motorbike and taxi drivers.
According to the New Dawn’s Tuesday February 14th 2012 edition, the reporter sustained bruises on his body as the police officer dragged him from his car and wrestled his camera from him.
The reporter, who as of reporting time is still complaining of pains, said he identified himself as a staff member of New Dawn, but Police Officer Edward Kollie was quoted as saying: “I don’t want to know who you are . . . You will delete that picture from the camera before you leave. Let me tell you that I have stood in big cases before, big cases . . . go to Central and ask for Officer Edward Kollie . . . I stood in the former Deputy Speaker Togba Mulbah case so I am not afraid of anything. . .”
The incident happened in the presence of other journalists, including the editor of In Profile newspaper, Fredrick Gaye, and the former assistant secretary general of the Press Union of Liberia, Julius Kanaba.
New Dawn has promised to pursue the matter.
