Neither Innovative Communication Corp. officials nor Sen. Adelbert Bryan’s attorney would comment Thursday on a lawsuit filed this week accusing the company’s security team of roughing up the senator at Emancipation ceremonies two years ago.
In his suit filed Tuesday in Territorial Court against former Gov. Roy L. Schneider and ICC owner Jeffrey Prosser, Bryan alleged that Prosser’s bodyguards assaulted him July 3, 1998, when he tried to enter a bandstand occupied by dignitaries attending ceremonies in Frederiksted for the 150th anniversary of Emancipation.
Bryan's suit alleges that he was invited to speak at the ceremony, yet his name had been removed from the official program. The omission was ordered by Schneider, Bryan alleges, and when he tried to gain entry to the bandstand, he was physically rebuffed by the ICC security team. The team was on stage ostensibly to protect ICC executives attending the event.
Bryan’s attorney, Jeffrey Moorhead, wouldn’t comment on the case, including how much Bryan was seeking in punitive damages. ICC owns the Virgin Islands Daily News, St. Croix Cable TV, St. Thomas-St. John Cable TV, ICC TV and a host of telecommunications companies in the territory.
"We can’t take on a media giant in the press," Moorhead said Thursday. "We’ll take the case on in court."
At a meeting Thursday with reporters, Thomas Minnich, chief operating officer of ICC, and Holland Redfield, ICC’s vice president for corporate affairs, said they would not comment on ongoing litigation involving the company.
Soon after the altercation, Bryan filed charges against the defendants while Schneider ordered then-Attorney General Julio Brady to investigate whether Bryan had broken any laws. Both actions seemed to have been settled behind the scenes until Bryan’s suit was filed Tuesday.
