Accident on Queen Mary Highway in the vicinity of the Sunshine Mall on Sunday morning that left a 25-year-old man dead. By. REGINALD PETSEREN (VIA FACEBOOK)
Welcome to the tenth edition of the Monday Digest, a new series on VI Consortium that is simple as it sounds: helping our readers start the week with excerpts of stories that occurred over the weekend.
The best way to get our news as it happens is by downloading the VI Consortium app. Do so here.
Below, the top weekend stories:
Drunk Driving Leads to Tragic Death
Another family is mourning the death of a loved one following a tragic accident that ended with the death of a 25-year-old man identified as Marvin Barton. He was killed after a drunk driver, identified as 27-year-old Kaley Lund, crashed into his vehicle early Sunday on the Queen Mary Highway near the Sunshine Mall on St. Croix, according to the V.I.P.D. Lund was remanded to the Bureau of Corrections after failing to make bail of $25,000. A female passenger in Barton's vehicle was injured as well.
6 Shot, One Dead in St. Thomas Saturday
The territory experienced another violent weekend, this time in St. Thomas, where six people were shot — five during one incident — with one victim, identified as 29-year-old Joseph Andrews, succumbing to wounds he sustained during the barrage of gunfire. Andrews along with four other individuals were shot during the first incident, which occurred near the Four Winds Plaza shopping center. The sixth victim was shot during a separate incident that occurred in the area of Smith Bay. Police arrested a suspect involved in the second shooting and jailed him pending his advisement hearing after failing to make bail of $75,000.
Saturday's homicide was the territory's 43rd for 2020.
The V.I.P.D is hosting a press briefing at 11:00 a.m. today. VIC will carry it live on our Facebook platform and website.
UVI Updates Sexual Harassment Policy to Fall in Line With U.S. D.O.E. Changes
The University of the Virgin Islands took steps to fall in line with the U.S. Dept. of Education's amendments to title IX of the Education Act of 1972, which states that no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal assistance. Title IX applies to all educational institutions that receive federal funds. The Office of Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education (US DOE) enforces Title IX regulations.
UVI Board Attorney Marie Thomas Griffith said changes to the policy, mandated by Title IX, included changes to the definition of sexual harassment, the hearing process, the formal complaint structure, kinds of responses to the accused and due process in regard to the accused.
FirstBank Notifies Clients of Security Occurrence
FirstBank on Saturday said it detected a security occurrence in its systems Friday, which the bank said impacted several of its service channels.
The occurrence did not impact customer accounts, and the bank's senior vice president and USVI business director, Valdamier Collens, said everything is being done to reinstate services expeditiously.
“We are working diligently to fix this problem and restore our services as soon as possible. This occurrence did not impact the safety of our customers deposits,” Mr. Collens said.
In other news, a man and woman were arrested and jailed on multiple child abuse charges. The man was arrested for burning two children with a hot spatula, while the woman was arrested for failing to seek medical attention for her children; The Drug Enforcement Administration held its 19th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday at locations across the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico; and Governor Bryan signed into law Bill No. 33-0419 — sponsored by Senator Novelle Francis — which approves the government of the Virgin Islands' purchase of two parcels totaling about 6 acres in Estate La Grange on St. Croix from Dr. Rafael Garcia for $282,187. According to Government House, the land will be used to complete Phase II of the Frederiksted Economic Revitalization Project, which is an initiative to beautify and upgrade Frederiksted’s Tourism infrastructure while maintaining the historic town’s charm and cultural appearance.
The previous Monday Digest is here.
