Police lied, says premier’s former assistant

Kenneth Bryan

(CNS): The former political assistant to the premier, Kenneth Bryan, has said that, in order to justify his arrest, several police officers deliberately lied about what happened that night, following an incident he said was a misunderstanding. During the final day of Summary Court trial, in which Bryan is charged with disorderly conduct and assaulting police, the local talk show host has been consistent in his claims that the police have exaggerated his behaviour to bolster their mistake.

Bryan has always denied assaulting the police and has been consistent in his version of events, which began when he went to the assistance of a female police officer who was being abused by her ex-lover. The violent offender, who was wanted by police, was not arrested; instead it was Bryan who found himself on the wrong side of the law, sacked from his job and with his political future in the balance.

As the trial drew to a close on Thursday, Bryan’s attorney, Karin Thompson, pointed to the very consistent and practically identical testimony that the police officers repeated, without any lapse in memory, about the events in the car park that night as they recalled the alleged aggression of Bryan when he saw police arresting the wrong man. Thompson compared this to the forgetfulness and conflicts in evidence given by the officers when they discussed the events following Bryan’s arrest.

Thompson implied the police had colluded, something that Bryan had told the court he believed had happened for a number of reasons. He pointed to an uncomfortable history between himself and at least one officer involved in his arrest from his days as a TV reporter at Cayman 27, when the police had unlawfully seized his video equipment when he was working at a crime scene.

He also said that once the police arrested him, they knew that there would be a media frenzy and the case would be in the spotlight.

Bryan indicated that, although after he was bailed most of the officers recognised that it may have been a misunderstanding, the pending charges against him were not dropped and when he was finally charged, they were trumped-up to the most serious that could be made based on the alleged incident.

As he was cross-examined on the evidence against him given by several police officers, Bryan clearly stated that the officers were not mistaken but were deliberately lying.

Bryan has accepted that he used one curse word and pointing his finger at one police officer during the exchange, but he said this was in reaction to what he said was Officer Myers’ aggression towards him when he tried to offer information regarding what had transpired before the police arrived at the scene.

“I admit that I was wrong,” he said about swearing. “The start of all this was because I used the term ‘blood clot’. I’m really sorry about that but the other assertions are outright lies.”

Bryan told the court that he sympathised with the difficulties police have to deal with but said he was a person coming to assist them and there was a clear misunderstanding about his intentions. He said he could not understand how the police could possibly believe he was a threat to them.

“They know I am not any danger,” he said. ”They know me as someone who helps and not someone coming to obstruct or hinder,” Bryan said of the police, pointing out that at least two of the officers that night knew him well.

After closing statements by the attorneys, Acting Magistrate Philippa McFarlane said she would deliver her verdict on Tuesday, 9 February, at 2pm.