The recent beating of an 18- year-old Buffalo man has left the Rev. Darius G. Pridgen, pastor of True Bethel Baptist Church, demanding answers and the help of the public.

During all three Sunday morning services at the church, Pridgen encouraged anyone with information regarding what he called the “savage beating” of Brian Milligan to come forward.

Pridgen agreed to pass any information received about the case along to the police himself.

“If you want to save a child, it’s not by harboring wrong,” he told his congregation.

Milligan, who is white, was beaten by a group of black males Tuesday night near his East Side home and suffered a severe head injury.

Police are treating the case as a possible hate crime.

“If we are bodies of believers, we need to get upset,” Pridgen said at his Swan Street service. “We have to do something about it.”

Pridgen says it was the televised plea of the victim’s father that prompted him to act.

“Somebody knows something,” said Pridgen, noting the community outrage would be different if the victim was African American. “This is somebody’s child. He didn’t deserve to be beaten like that.”