POLICE SEARCH OF BIKER CALLED UNREASONABLE

A biker on trial for having a small amount of drugs grinned yesterday as
five police officers spent an entire day justifying why they pulled him
over for a traffic violation.

Jeff Peck, a member of the Hells Angels, was charged in May with having
1/10th of a gram of cocaine and about 1.5 grams of marijuana after police
pulled him over because his motorcycle was too loud.

Peck's lawyer, Tim Killeen, is arguing that the search that found the drugs
- -- the cocaine was in his vest pocket, the marijuana in his motorcycle --
was unreasonable and therefore the evidence should be excluded.

"It's a bizarre attitude that groups of police officers decide they're
going to make a point and the point is we're not a country governed by law,
we're a country governed by police," Killeen said. "How in the world can
the public justify that a police officer, because he doesn't like a guy, is
somehow entitled to search them?"

The officers, answering questions from Crown attorney Ann Krahn, testified
they had reason to stop, arrest and search Peck.

Peck had initially been pulled over May 4 for traffic violations, including
not having the vehicle identification number displayed and not having
proper equipment. His motorcycle was seized. Const. Dave Karsin said he
needed to serve the summons for those offences to Peck and that's why he
broadcast a message to all officers asking to be notified if they saw the
biker. On May 11, Peck was pulled over on another motorcycle for making
unnecessary noise. Const. Damian Turner testified they alerted Karsin, who
tried to serve Peck. Peck tossed the tickets on the ground and refused to
pick them up, Karsin said. He was charged with littering and arrested.

Provincial court Judge Sid Lerner has reserved his decision on whether the
search was reasonable.