A visiting corporate jet pilot was charged with assaulting a Police officer and violently resisting arrest yesterday.

Franklin Clark Buffington, 38, of Ralph, Alabama, pleaded not guilty in Magistrates' Court.

Buffington told Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves that he had not realised that he was being confronted by Police officers.

He said the officers involved in the incident were not in uniform and did not immediately identify themselves to him.

"I thought I was being abducted, sir," Buffingston said. "I was afraid of being kidnapped in a foreign country."

Buffington told the court that he had been walking down Court Street towards Front Street in search of a taxi to return to his hotel.

"All I saw was a door open, and she [the officer came up behind me," he said.

He was unclear as to whether the officers had been in a marked Police vehicle.

Buffington asked who would represent him in trial and requested to speak with the US Consul.

He said has been in custody since the time of his arrest and his company is scheduled to leave the Island today.

Mr. Greaves set his trial date for this morning at 10 a.m.