PUBLIC ENEMY OR VICTIM OF POLICE?

Hells Angel Prospect Has A List Of Complaints

He's described by some as public enemy No. 1, but Hells Angel prospect Ian
Grant says he's just a victim of a police campaign to portray him as a
wanton criminal.

What's worse, Grant said his common-law wife of five years, Michelle
Baisinger, has been dragged into the ongoing legal proceedings against him
and other gang associates.

"Am I a bad guy because police say I am?" Grant, 28, said in an exclusive
interview at the Winnipeg Remand Centre, where he has been held for the
past four months on numerous charges.

"There's not a Charter of Rights and Freedoms for the general public and
then a Charter of Rights and Freedoms for the Hells Angels," he said.

Grant requested the interview a day after the Free Press reported members
of the Hells Angels are planning legal action against police and justice
officials after seven high-profile cases against the bikers were dropped
without going to trial.

Grant confirmed that talks are ongoing about filing a lawsuit claiming
"malicious prosecution." Grant spoke to the Free Press on the condition no
questions were asked of the outstanding charges against him, which include
allegations he conspired -- with his wife and two others -- to traffic
narcotics into the remand centre.

He is already a suspect in a spate of firebombings and drive-by shootings
over the past two years. Police and the Crown allege these acts were
intended to intimidate witnesses or win control of the city's drug trade.

Last month, the Crown stayed theft and extortion charges against Grant for
allegedly keeping a police tracking device that was discovered when his
truck was being fixed.

"We (the Hells Angels) have never spoken to you before because we figure
you're just going to write what the police want," Grant said.

Baisinger, 25, said in a later interview the past three weeks she's had
several run-ins with members of the major crime and gang units.

One was at the Main Street Earl's where off-duty members chided her as she
dined with a close acquaintance. "They were waving at me and asking me to
sit with them," she said. "They were pushing chairs at me and saying how
they were my friends."

Because of the drug conspiracy charge, Grant and Baisinger are now
prohibited from communicating with each other.

At the Law Courts recently, Baisinger said she tried to enter a courtroom
where Grant was appearing, but was stopped by two police officers, saying
her presence in the courtroom would be a violation of the court order. She
said she was allowed to go in as long as she didn't wave to Grant.

"We must be the only husband and wife who are precluded from talking to one
another," Grant added. "My lawyer can find nothing on the books that this
has happened before."

Baisinger also said officers often follow her in marked and unmarked police
cars.

A police spokesperson said Grant and Baisinger's complaints have no merit.

"He's a bad guy and if she doesn't like the life, maybe she should get out
of it," an officer said.

Baisinger said she'll stick by Grant no matter what. "I love him," she
said. "They've made him out to be a monster. But I know what he's like at
home, when I see him cuddled up with our dogs."

City police targeted Grant and other gang associates following the Feb. 12
attempted firebombing of a female police officer's home. To date no one has
been arrested in that attack.

Grant told the Free Press he had nothing to do with the attack on the
officer's home. "If someone checked, they'd see I was in custody here at
the remand centre," he said.

Grant said he's complained to the province's Law Enforcement Review Agency
about the alleged police misconduct.

LERA commissioner George Wright confirmed Grant had filed complaints, but
said he couldn't comment further on them because of privacy restrictions.

Grant said all he got out of LERA was an official telling him that he
should move out of the city if he doesn't like city police.